Since the young boy and his father hadn’t travelled beyond their county, the stories by grandpa made them very curios.  Out of curiosity Millennial once asked, “Grandpa, are those horns from a big bull or a bison?” The grandpa, almost offended responded, “No idiot, that is invaluable ivory from elephant tusks!” “We tracked the elephants for days and nights in the wilderness, shot them with high caliber rifles to collect the tusks”, he would continue. Grandpa proceeded to inform them how valuable ivory was. To say less, his wedding ring was curved from ivory. In fact, only a fraction in their county could afford an ivory curved ring. It felt prestigious to have one. Whilst the grandfather opted to decorate their home with his collection, some of his age-mates chose to trade the elephant tusks with other far nations. Grandpa had learned how prestigious the tusks were to these far nations too. In those nations, he was informed that in addition to the prestige from artifacts, ivory could be transformed to aphrodisiacs, poison detectors or even spell telling. In fact, according to grandpa’s age-mates, ivory was more valuable in the far nations than back home. Business was booming. Even though the grandfather never created an environment for dialog, Millennial was always eager to his stories. Many questions lingered in the young boy’s mind. His father, would not be of any help as both had not been beyond their county.

With the rhetoric attitude by grandpa, Millennial always refrained from further engagement, but his father could always read the questions on his face. The father always tried to explain to Millennial what elephants were and that they lived in the wilderness where nobody lived. No matter the efforts by the father, Millennial’s curiosity soon grew into anxiety.  The father had to eventually organize for a trip to the wilderness for Millennial and himself to see the elephants for the first time. At this time, the grandfather was too old to travel.

The journey was long. It took them days to cross the lands and the oceans but finally they were there, into the wilderness, into the jungle. To their amusement, the jungle was full of life. Undulating landscapes, wildlife and people. The social interaction and the level of interdependence between the different wildlife species and between the wildlife and people was amazing. The boy exclaimed, “From the narrations by grandpa, I did not expect to meet people in the wilderness.” Both were ecstatic.  They soon learned they were in Africa. Besides the native people, they also met many other visitors who had travelled to experience the beauty of nature. There was a multifold of visitors from across the world. Much more than had visited their home. Some of the visitors were interested on the scenic beauty, others the birds, while others on the plain game. The boy and his father were eager to see elephants and true to their wish, they met many elephants. The elephants lived in family groups just like humans. They were majestic and very helpful to the other species. They could shake trees to fell ripe fruits for other animals to feast. They dug out root tubers and small wells in dry river beds for young elephants and other wildlife to quench.  Moreover, since elephants travel long distances, they dispersed the fruit tree seeds to other localities in their poo. To sum it all, due to their high level of intelligence, elephants were extremely entertaining to the visitors. In one family, was a gigantic bull called Tim and his son Mat. Tim was born in the mid-20^th Century. He had huge tusks. Tim and a few other elephants with big tusks were locally referred to as ‘super tuskers’. Tim learned the curiosity in Millennial. He (Tim) would present his family every morning when Millennial and his father went for game viewing. Quickly, there grew a strong bond between Tim and the young boy.

The bond grew stronger by the day. The two would seat for long ours in the evening as Tim told stories of the wilderness. Tim informed Millennial of his childhood.  Narrating his childhood, Tim said, “When I was young, there were many elephants, more than fourfold today”, Tim continued to inform Millennial that many were killed by brutal visitors for their tusks. Many members of his family had been killed. Regardless of his gigantic posture, Tim wept uncontrollably on remembrance of the brutal days. Millennial wondered that elephants too had emotions! Tim further disclosed that survivors would bury the dead and vacate the massacre sites to try clear the brutal memories. Tim wondered of what use the brutal visitors had with their tusks, and not take all the bones. To him the tusks were for defending the family, shaking trees for fruits, digging root tubers and so on. Millennial acknowledged the tusks were more useful on the elephant. In his mind the young boy recollected the stories from his grandfather. His grandpa and mates were the brutal visitors Tim was telling about! They were mean! He could not believe it. Although the stay in Africa was pleasurable, the boy could not wait to return home. He was angry with the grandfather. The tusks were more valuable on elephants than as decoration in their house. He wanted to correct grandpa. In the remaining days of their visit, Tim and his son Mat kept the boy company all nights sharing stories and experiences. They even disclosed to the boy that only a few super tuskers lived and that occasionally, the brutal visitors would come back. In recent times, some of the brutal visitors were the local people.