Thrills with the Tusker

As a boy I had found it far pleasanter to be seeing animals and working with them in my farm or in the jungles than solving ridiculous algebraic expressions and trigonometric problems during my school days. Since then, I have watched domesticated and wild animals throughout my teenage and more, notably for the pleasure and fun they provided me.

"Working with animals provided the excuse for removing myself to where every prospect pleases, (up in the mountains, in the deep tropical forest or in the hills), away from the busy, noisy and this his speed mechanical civilization. It has become a form of escapism, maybe, but one that hardly needs justification".

 

One of the common questions I must face with most people when I meet them is about the thrills and adventures in the jungle. My standard answer seems to be disappointing most of the people.  Working with wildlife is a peaceful occupation, it is not complete without physical thrills and even hazards. These are all part of work and are called as Occupational Hazard in professional language or just a bad luck in our common language. Every work got occupational hazards, for example I have heard IT engineers getting electrocuted, Veterinarian getting charged down by cattle. While working with wildlife in different parts of Nepal, I have frequently found myself in uncomfortably disturbing situations.

While working in Eastern Plains of Nepal around Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve for instance, I had found myself in disturbing situation when A wild elephant with a big tusk a suddenly appeared from nowhere, a situation by no means uncommon in that region. The tuskers seem to be in musth. There were 3 other members in the team including the Forest Guard. I could see forest guard running towards me so fast as if he was sprinting for Olympics, I had advantage of being 15 feet ahead of the forest guard and haven no clue but continue my motioning and move my legs as fast as I can. I could see the forest guard overtaking me with the sprint of the cat with his long legs as fast as it could carry him, looking straightly neither left nor right. 
The Forest Guard soon out distanced me by a hundred yards, and it looked as if he would never stop running. He repeated the same thing for another hundred yards. One thing I like about coming from my military background is my undoubtable stamina back in the days. After a while running with the forest guard we stopped. He was hot, the sweat had collected and was dropping from tip of his nose after panting and all the running. With his breatless suprressed undertones he said "Its gone now". He was amazed to see me running at that speed,  was praising him because of his speed and stamina. Our fellow friends were not in the sight. The Tusker was gone very early , without noticing.