A slightly built Indian man in a white kurta appears at my door. He says his name. But I can’t understand him. His accent is too thick.

He leads me to electric cart for a brief ride up to the top of the mountain overlooking the Indian Ocean on the African island of Mahe.

When we arrive, the sun is shimmering off the surface of the aquamarine water below. I thank the man I presume is my driver and walk off.

An elephant just a week old weighs more than 200 pounds. Her mother eats grass using her trunk to rip clumps from the ground. The baby pretends to do the same thing, moving his trunk as if he is eating too. But all he pulls up is air. Once he bounces a clump of dirt on his head.

Finally, the baby walks under his mother. She stops protectively. He reaches his mouth up to her belly drinks.

♦◊♦

My driver finds me sitting on a bench. He leads me to an open-air perch with a commanding view of beach, ocean and islands in the distance. On the wooden floor are two yoga matts. He waves for me to sit down opposite him.

He begins to chant. I close my eyes.

A clan of Hyenas rolls in dirt warmed by the morning sun. The largest female chases off an intruder. Two young sisters playfully nip at each other. As they grow one will prove stronger than the other and their play will turn lethal. There is only room for one female in line for the thrown of the clan.

 ♦◊♦

I open my eyes long enough to watch the yogi demonstrate some a handful of postures. I have done them thousands of times before but never really seen them before. Then he asks me to close my eyes for good. I lay on my back with my head towards where he is sitting.

All I hear is the crashing of the waves hundreds of feet below.

A pride of lions bask in the sun of the Mara. A male wakes from his slumber. He drags himself up to a standing position, his mouth open breathing heavily. He walks slowly but deliberately over to a female. He squats behind her awkwardly.

She turns her head and roars at him. But she doesn’t move. He stands up a moment later. He walks back over to where he came from to lay down. A minute after he got up he is back asleep.

“One male is dominant,” my Kenyan guide tells me. “He will mate with all the females. His brother has to wait until he is tired to get his chance.”

♦◊♦

The yogi asks me to tighten every muscle in my body from my toes to my head, one muscle at a time, then to tighten my whole body three times. Finally he instructs me to let it all go. “Let your muscles let go of your bones. When they hold onto your bones they also hold onto your soul. Let them all go.”

I hear the sound of big raindrops falling all around me.