“We left Victoria Falls behind and crossed the border into Botswana. We were somewhere in the middle of nowhere on our way to the Okavango Delta. There we set up camp for the night, on the ground in the middle of the wilderness, in an almost magical place. I fell asleep happy and relaxed – under the endless starry sky of Africa. 

Then, in the middle of the night, I awoke very lightly, as if a soft noise or a new arrival had gently woken me. I felt that there was something behind me – and to see that something, I had to put my head far back in my neck. And imagine: There is something big behind me – something very, very big. In the glow of the full moon it looks more white than grey. It is a mighty bull elephant, probably weighing around six tonnes, looking at me calmly with its gentle eyes. 

I was lying on the ground only three metres away from him. And even if I had been standing, I would still have fit between his front legs. He had spread his ears to look even bigger. Ears shaped like the African continent…”