You know you are in for a treat when you have to sign an indemnity form before you even set up your tents. The lodge is not liable for any damages the elephants may cause.

In the middle of the Kalahari Desert lies Elephant Sands Lodge. The lodge hosts a number of unusual guests that are attracted to the water. During the wet season the watering hole is a pond, during the dry season the lodge pumps a tiny amount of water to a trough. The elephants can smell the water from miles away. They drink from it all day, and during the night they roam the campsite looking for water and food.

Throughout the night their is a shuffling throughout the campsite. We were in our tent thinking, is this the night an elephant steps on me? Luckily we survived. There was one poor soul that parked his dune buggy on top of a water line. When camping in the desert, one does not expect to hear a car being flipped over. That is what woke me in the dark hours of the night, the sound of metal crunching and glass breaking. When we got up the next morning we watched the sunrise over the watering hole. When it was light enough we looked at the camp and saw elephant footprints zigzagging through the campsite. I set my sandals outside of the tent, in the morning one of them had been through ten feet from our campsite. An elephant had stepped on it and flung it away. The shoe was literally inches from where I was sleeping inside the tent!

Amazing experience and an unforgettable night. Elephants Sands Lodge comes highly recommended, but it is very very very far from the beaten path.