Where it all started
Not long after my camping trip on the neighboring farm (see Tales & Trails #2), my dad and a group of his BSAP (British South Africa Police) friends arranged a father-son camping trip to the wild and spectacular sanctuary of Mana Pools in the north of the country. (Along with much of the surrounding area, Mana Pools was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984).
Not long after the dinner dishes had been cleared and the campfire stoked, seven young boys sat wide-eyed listening to their fathers’ fabulous tales. Later that night, at the appointed time, my dad and I stood on the banks of the Zambezi River and gazed upwards. As I looked up at the star-spangled heavens, I recall sensing something monumental: for that night, the first human had just set foot on the surface of the moon.
After saluting the pioneering event, we turned in for the night. For some reason known only to my dad, he had decided that we would be sleeping under the stars. Given that Mana Pools is in one of the wildest parts of Africa—and given the many unfortunate incidents that have occurred since—sleeping al fresco in Mana Pools is fervently discouraged. (As opposed to camping under canvas).
How long had I been asleep? With an urgent shake of my shoulder, my dad willed me awake. I remember two things. The first was his breath on my ear: “Keep still!” The second—to emphasize the point—was his index finger pressed to my lips. “There’s an elephant at the end of your cot.” Sure enough, no more than a yard or two away, a great grey bouldering beast loomed large overhead.
Maybe we should have elected to sleep in that tent.
Elephants are noisy digesters. “Listen to his stomach,” whispered my dad. As I sat there, awed by its presence, I became aware of something more than mere sound. While it would take me many years to fully understand the vibrancy of that moment, the sensation I had experienced was both auditory and kinesthetic. In effect, I was FEELING the sound.
Two decades later, scientists discovered that elephants communicate using very-low frequency rumbles. These vocalizations, inaudible to humans, occur in the infrasonic range. That night, alongside the Zambezi, my own diaphragm had been vibrating in harmony with the elephant’s low frequency rumble. It’s ironic that mankind’s ingenuity put men on the moon in 1969, yet it took us another 25 years to discover that elephants communicate using infra-sound.
Moved in a way I could barely articulate, I told my dad that I wanted to write a story about my elephant encounter. Nearly 40 years in the making, I eventually wrote and published Manzovo—Place of the Elephants. It’s not only a tribute to these magnificent animals, but also a warning signal of the fate that awaits them: habitat destruction; human-animal conflict; poaching; even ignorance; they’re all impacting the fragile balance.
Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.
Be clear, be confident and don’t overthink it. The beauty of your story is that it’s going to continue to evolve and your site can evolve with it. Your goal should be to make it feel right for right now. Later will take care of itself. It always does.