Elephant Polo

Emma, pachyderm polo princess

(Emma) As we pull in I hear the horn playing. Six elephants are lined up with their attire on and painted very nicely. A man in a colorful turban sits on top to direct the elephant (to keep us from failing miserably). I get out with my camera in hand. First, we feed the elephants bananas so they become our friends. The elephants take the bananas in their trunk and eat them whole. Now that we are friends, the game begins! Three people are on one team and three on the other. We are with our friends the Polers so it is the Whites vs. the Polers. The six Whites will switch off with the first people on our side Mom, Andrew and I.

The ref starts by throwing the ball into the air; it is all about the starting touch, because the elephants are not very good at turning quickly. They don’t know how to play defense. It was challenging to control the stick because we are sitting eight feet above the ground. The Polers are the first ones to get the ball and they score, so we start to lose hope. But we score as well. All of a sudden, I hear something that sounds like a gunshot. The weight of the two-ton elephant has just stepped on popped the ball!

The game is tied at 6-6. The game is to 7, and I am not so sure how I feel. Up until now, the ref has been throwing the ball to whoever is losing so the game could be even, but now it was a fair toss. We get the ball and bring it down the wing. The elephants do not move very quickly, but they are good at setting us up. This is the last goal, and I haven’t touched the ball yet. This is my chance. My elephant goes up to the ball and sets me up. I hit the ball, it starts to roll and then ends up going through the posts. GOAL!!!!!

Elephant polo was not exactly what I had imagined, a lot slower and shorter, but it still brought some great laughs and memories!