One night while setting up camp on a river island, we saw an elephant eating grass on a nearby island. After a while, he slowly plodded down the bank and into the water. Then he walked/swam across onto our small island. I watched him from really close by, reaching our island. Then he stayed down the other end of the woods, having a bit to eat. But after a while, he came through the trees into our clearing. A big fella, with really long white tusks, he stood and looked at the 7 of us and we looked at him. Then he turned and walked off in another direction, not wanting any trouble I guess. We slept in the tents there in the clearing and the elephant stayed down the other end of the island for the night.
Another day, we stopped on the river bank for dinner. A family of monkeys walked by, and again, we saw an elephant eating trees. Besides that, over the trip, we saw lots of big crocodiles (slithering into the water as we came by or just sunning themselves on the bank, sometimes 4 or 5 of them together). Also saw, baboons, waterboks, water buffalo, storks, vultures, impalas, deer, tropical-coloured birds, eagles and more. Completely in the wilderness, it was wonderfully peaceful.
After the canoe trip, I took a day's rest and visited a crocodile farm (ever seen an albino crocodile ?) where there were hundreds of the evil devils, from babies right up to really big, really old crocs.