EVER had a wild elephant look you in the eye? From so close that you feel it reading your mind?
Not from behind bars at a zoo, or on some made-for-tourists elephant ride in Southeast Asia.
But in the elephant's own space. At HER waterhole, in the middle of the great savannah plains of Botswana.
Waterholes are elephants' most precious possessions, apart, perhaps, from their babies.
So here we are, virtually on the edge of this pool of muddy water, with a family of a dozen or so elephants heading straight for us. With their babies.
The matriarch detaches herself from the group and begins walking very deliberately towards us, her trunk flicking up and down, testing the air, and her head and ears rolling from side to side - a sure sign that she is unhappy.
"Stay down and stay quiet," signals our guide Marga.
We are crouching on the roofs of our 4X4 vehicles - big, robust diesel monsters capable of dealing with anything Botswana can throw at them.
Except an African elephant, which can flip a Land Cruiser like a pancake.
The matriarch walks on, unhurried, as the world's biggest land creature is entitled to be in her own backyard.
About 15 metres away she stops, and very deliberately looks at each of us in turn.
Her eyes meet yours and time freezes.
Your heart is pumping but inside you somehow feel calm, mesmerised, extraordinarily alive. And very emotional. (It's not just me. Several of our small group later say they found themselves in tears).
Satisfied that we pose no threat, the matriarch rumbles a subsonic message to her extended family and they move towards the water.
Like their leader, they amble along in that easy, languid gait that makes them look almost as if they are on wheels.
And - here's one of elephants' most endearing traits - although they can smell the water from miles away, when they get to within 40 metres or so they can no longer contain their excitement.
They break ranks and run, like kids trying to beat one another into the summer surf. Their joy is palpable.
There is some danger in being so close to them, but skilled guides know how to read the body language.
The rule is to be cautious, respectful of their space and always leave yourself an escape route.
As Lawrence Anthony put it in his extraordinary book The Elephant Whisperer: "Never approach wild elephants directly. Rather put yourself in their vicinity and if they want to, they will come closer to you. If not, forget it; they take their imperial status most seriously."
Before this close encounter we had stood on top of our vehicles and could see animals for 360 degrees, from horizon to horizon - giraffe, wildebeest, zebra, kudu, impala, ostrich, warthogs ... the whole kaleidoscope.
Dominating, however, were the elephants.
We could see perhaps 500 of them, sauntering to and from waterholes in family groups of up to 40.
Hunting is outlawed in Botswana and so are fences around wildlife reserves (unlike neighbouring South Africa), which means the elephants are able to traverse their ancient pathways unhindered.
Unhindered, that is, except by lions.
That piece of savannah is also home turf for a pride of 11 lions who have learnt how to kill elephants. It is rare in Africa, if not unique.
Our guide Marga witnessed a "kill" in 2012: "One goes for the eyes, one for the throat and one grabs the elephant's trunk and twists it in a knot to close off the airway."
Elephants cannot breathe through their mouths and without air they do not have the strength to fight off the rest of the pride.
The hunting generally takes place at night, so it was a sight we were mercifully spared.
The evidence, however, was there to be seen - carcasses in varying states of decay around the plain (although there was no way of knowing how each elephant had died).
We stopped near one relatively fresh carcass and watched as a handsome but extremely nervous black-backed jackal competed for carrion with vultures and gigantic marabou storks.
The apparent abundance of elephants at Savuti is misleading. African elephant numbers are declining, from loss of habitat and from poaching.
Wealthy collectors, especially in China, are still prepared to pay grotesque sums of money for ivory trophies, from both elephants and rhino (in certain parts of Asia the myth endures that rhino horn is an aphrodisiac).
Locals estimate that Botswana loses two rhinos a day to poachers.
We see anti-poaching patrols, driving around the country in vehicles not unlike ours.
There is no better way to experience Africa - covering the ground yourself, getting stuck in the sand and mud, learning to drive with water coming over the bonnet.
You get to touch and smell the land, and hear its sounds.
At night you climb a ladder to the roof of your vehicle, zip yourself into the tent and lie there listening to the lions.
It really is Africa.
* The author travelled at his own expense with Active-Reisen, a family-owned travel company specialising in self-drive safaris for small groups in Southern Africa.
www.active-reisen.com
AAP