Trunk Show

It might have been the sound of wheels spinning in mud, or perhaps the chattering whine of a tortured transmission. Or it might have been the increasingly loud imprecations I was directing at my driver. Whatever the cause, we had suddenly become the focus of several hundred wild elephants. Those nearest began to stomp toward us, thumping their trunks on the ground.

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It was our third encounter with Sri Lankan pachyderms in less than a week, and though we escaped by crazily zigzagging in reverse, this one was rather close for comfort. "You're very fortunate," said Premaratna, our septuagenarian...

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