(suki and tun-kai)

After a few weeks we had to leave the big open meadow and go back deep into the woods. The mother elephant stayed with her baby and didn't leave with her herd. As we were walking towards the dense forest we saw her, she stood there rumbling sadly, swaying from one led to another. Keeping an eye on her baby's body. We left and I never saw her again.

We were walking in a row, my mother being the second in line as she was the matriarchs' sister. We walked through dense forest bits and stopped now and then to feed or to let the calves rest. I never knew where we were going but my auntie told me that she has to look for places with lots of food to feed the herd. Then I asked her why we didn't stay at the meadow forever. That place has lots of food for everyone. What she answered is something I'll never forget. She told me that if we stay to long we will destroy nature and it wouldn't have time to restore itself. And we would soon run out of food to eat. So we leave and come back next year so when everything grows back we could enjoy the rich foods again. So basically we go there destroy everything, we leave, it all grows back, and then we come back to destroy it all again. That makes us seem like big butts! (Well we are because we are elephants. But you get what I mean.)

After my comment my aunt told me that I would understandwhen I'm older. We continued for a few days until we came up to a river whereeveryone started to drink. They elders used their trunks to suck up lots ofwater and then they squirt it into their mouths. I didn't want to come close tothe dangerous water. So I stayed behind my mom while she was drinking. Whilst Iwas waiting for my mom and the others to finish I thought I would practice mytrunk grabbing skills. Since the other elephants seem to master their trunktricks pretty well. I walked over to where I saw a small stick laying on the grassyground. I tried to grab it a few times but I failed. Then I noticed that theadult were using the finger like tip on their trunk to grab tiny objects.Twisting and turning my trunk to get agood grip on the stick I finally got it. I lifted it high in the air to show tothe others what I could do with that tricky trunk of mine. I started to runaround with the stick in the air. I made happy trumpet sounds for everyone tohear. I showed my mom who was now submerged in the water. I then showed myauntie and the others as they threw sand on their backs to protect their skinfrom the sun. One of the females threw some sand on me, I shook it off andcontinued to run around. I was proud of my newfound skill. As I was running Isuddenly crossed my legs and fell down. I let out a cry and in a matter ofseconds mommy and auntie and some others were stood around me checking if I wasokay. Mom touched my head with my trunk, sniffing me up for injuries. And I just ran between her legs. Its kind offcool to be small enough to fit underneath your mother. She will protect youwhilst you sleep, provide shade when it's too hot and of course those two milk tabs are right withinmy reach. As everyone calmed down and started grazing and bathing again. Istarted to goof around with my trunk again. After flipping it around I decided I would putit in my mouth and try it out. So I put the tip of my trunk in my mouth andsucked a little. It was like a pacifier. After sucking on it for a while. I laydown to sleep. All that playing and walking got me tired so after a few secondsI was fast asleep. I woke up a few hours later as my mother gently pushed me toget up. So I got to my feet and started to walk next to her. The noise of birdsand monkeys around us gave a peaceful feeling. A sense of security came overme. I was very happy and I hoped it would stay like that forever. But thefuture is unsure , that is what learned later on.