Natural Remedies

(PICTURE: Lighting up elephant poo...)

During one afternoon, Crimson took the four of us on a walk around the Sabi Sabi premises. Actually we walked exactly where we had seen this leopard the night before:

(PICTURE: I could basically pet this guy he was so close.)

Anyway, we went for a walk and learned a lot about the local fauna and environment:
(PICTURE: These sharp needles can blind you if the sap inside it gets into your eyes...or if the sharp needle goes into your eyes.)

Along the way we saw a few wildebeests and impalas but nothing that wanted to eat us. In fact, the most interesting thing we saw were clumps of dried out elephant crap. Crimson explained to us that dried elephant crap was used as a local remedy for sinus trouble and stuffy noses. He told us that the locals lit the elephant dung on fire and then breathed it in. Well, when you've got four 30-year-old guys on a safari someone of course is gonna try it. I actually quickly said, "Give it a try Chris" and Chris quickly responded, "You want me to smoke it? I'll try it!" Before we knew it, Chris was inhaling fired up elephant crap.


I couldn't let him one up me, so I too breathed in the elephant crap. After seeing that neither Chris or I had died, Dave gave it a shot too. Devin, the only guy with legitimate sinus trouble, decided to pass on smoking the crap. Yeah, it was probably a wise move since the next day I actually felt like I had my first stuffy nose of the trip.

I'm pretty sure Crimson went back to the lodge that day and collected a jar of money for being the first guide to get guests to willingly smoke elephant shit.