Elephant Encounter

I’m busy struggling with the tedious nature of working long hours in the forest every day, but there is still some excitement: After six months I have finally seen my first WILD Asian Elephant in the forest. I was working alone. A constant light rain all day had not left me in a cheery mood. I found my langur group early, but they were 50m distant and we sat all day in the rain. As the rain drops finally slowed I took off my backpack and set down my poncho and umbrella. I left the umbrella open to dry, a big shiny silver one. At 4pm I was cold and wet and the langurs were visible only as balls of fur, but not moving and not close enough to practice identifying individuals. I was seriously considering up and going, but I told myself it stopped raining and I had already put in 10 hours so I could wait 2 more until dusk. 4:20 the langurs started to get active and I expected them to travel so I turned to get my bag. An elephant was obliviously walking and snorting and eating down a perpendicular trail, a visible 15m from my location. I thought if I stayed still he would just keep walking past me down the trail. As his shape materialized, the ears, the tusks, I slowly moved my body behind the nearest tree (which unfortunately turned out to be only about 10 inches around) and froze! The elephant stopped and walked right toward me, but his focus was on the umbrella. I was so intrigued by his analyzing this foreign object in the forest that I stood and watched as he walked even closer still. The male was now less than 15 feet directly in my line of sight, no bushes blocking the view, nothing separating us except my measly tree. No kidding, I'm not exaggerating the distance, I actually went back and found our footprints the next day and measured, only 15 feet between us! As the elephant reached with his trunk to the umbrella my brain suddenly jolted and screamed "what are you going to do if he come to investigate you next!" So far he hadn't noticed me, but I could just imagine him glimpsing the shine from the whites of my eyes or something and snorting and charging. I had no where to run through sloppy slippery mud and a tangle of roots around me. I slowly reached for my defense spray figuring it could slow him down if he did charge and I didn't want to make sudden movements. Of course, the spray was on my belt which was now under my rain jacket. As I rustled the jacket aside I shifted my weight, making a sucking sound in the mud. The elephant looked up directly at me, turned up his trunk, gave a little trumpet, turned, and ran off. He looked a bit confused and scared, seeming not clear if there was danger. But I guess he figured better safe than sorry, and it meant I could breathe again. Walking through the forest, the elephant seemed peaceful going about his business. I could have watched him for hours, but there is also an aura of power and strength surrounding them. Truly awesome. I was stupid to allow him to get as close as he did. Yet, I feel I did the correct thing in freezing instead of running. I think it is best not to spook something that could outrun you anyway. I wonder if they really would be so curious as to come up and check a person out ...