Africa Wild

Every new day is filled with endless possibilities. Witnessing Nature-in-the-moment opens up the entire spectrum of human emotion.

The joyful first steps of a newborn, the comical play of innocent youth, the exquisite nurturing and interaction of mother and child, and the strong bonds that adulthood requires to ensure their very existence is juxtaposed against the other side of the double-edged sword. The helpless vulnerability of newborns, the toll inexperience takes upon the orphaned or abandoned, aging and illness, extremes of natural weather cycles, and the necessary predator kills that bring such anguish.

This tension between the proverbial agony and ecstasy reminds me of the song "Turn, Turn, Turn"
(by The Byrds, based on Ecclesiastes 3)

To everything - turn, turn, turn
There is a season - turn, turn, turn
And a time to every purpose under heaven

A time to be born,




a time to die




A time to plant,




a time to reap




A time to kill,




a time to heal




A time to laugh,




a time to weep

A time to build up, a time to break down
A time to dance,




a time to mourn




A time to cast away stones
A time to gather stones together

A time of love,




a time of hate




A time of war,




a time of peace




A time you may embrace




A time to refrain from embracing

A time to gain,




a time to lose




A time to rend, a time to sew
A time for love,




a time for hate




A time for peace,




I swear it's not too late!

On the lighter side….

Finding Your Idiot

We celebrated SO's birthday during the trip, and the occasion found us reflecting on finding that "Special Someone" with whom to share your life.

"Cupid gets a lot of credit for catalyzing true love, which overshadows his brother, Stupid, the god of ill-advised, drunken hook-ups."
- Ruminations.com



"Finding your soulmate" is a relatively recent touchy-feely phrase. Flowery words that conjure up dreams of happily-ever-after and other fairytale fantasies that dance in your head and strum your heartstrings . In reality it's an illusion that is a waste of precious time and usually doomed to failure.



"I'm an Earth Sign, and I'm looking for a Water Sign to make me complete…."
No, most likely you two will end up making mud.



And the truth is, looking for your perfect match is much more difficult than opening a cold one and ordering a pizza, and not nearly as satisfying in the end.

Your time would be better spent Finding Your Perfect Idiot.



That ONE person who could put up with your flaws, (when you eat cereal it sounds like a dryer full of rocks), your idiosyncrasies (that unintended snort during a bellylaugh),



your annoying habits (like that funny whistling noise that comes out of your nose sometimes when you breathe), your irritating pets (the Saint Bernard that has lust in his heart for anonymous legs), and you, theirs, (him always interrupting you when you're speaking. I think it's called "premature interjection".)



Simply look for someone willing to be YOUR Perfect Idiot and you, theirs...

Warts



'n all…



Odds are, this approach has a much better chance of success than expecting a mere mortal to be your "everything", and you, theirs.

And they lived Happily Ever After…..The End

With SO MANY lions around this year, the odds were great of chancing upon some in the mood for… uh, uhm ,…whatever you call that wacky mood that lions seem to be in when they feel the urge to procreate. (We humans call it masochism.)

The whole scene is filled with tension, anticipation, intensity, power, and aggression, and that's just on the parts of the tourists jockeying for position.



The sheer number of repeated matings over the course of several days makes me believe the lioness's theme song during this time is:

"Do That To Me One More Time"…
(once is never enough with a man like you.)



Translation: "Yo! Romeo! That's ALL? That's it, Dude? You're DONE????"

Do these mating rituals move one to wax poetic? wane mundane? or stoop to writing a slightly ribald limerick??

Yep, you guessed it. For all those AW Forum members with higher sensitivities, please proceed to a more genteel topic NOW. Move along.

(My bet is that I lost exactly NO ONE….just saying'.)

There once was a lion from Kalahari



Who wowed photographers on Safari



Seems he met a flirty lass,
Made a very determined pass



In hopes of a romantic soiree.



Seems her come-hither actions were fake



Looking out only for her own sake



His advances eluded,
The stud muffin concluded:

"All she really gives, is good headache."

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

I'll start with The Good. Otherwise I'd have to change the title.

Cape Foxes - the darlings of the KTP



This year it took us slightly over 2 weeks to find our first Cape Foxes.


Den upkeep is an everyday activity

We found 2 dens, but only one had pups that came out into the open.





We visited them on 2 consecutive days, but they either weren't out, or had moved their den on all the other days we were in the area (Between Urikaruus and Twee R).


(Trying to get mom to play)

The Bad - our first night at Grootkolk

Upon arrival we were informed that our refrig./freezer wasn't working. Due to the 5 1/2 hour drive to reach Grootkolk, a lot of our "frozen" items, esp. meat, had thawed to varying degrees. Usually we just toss it into the freezer and all is well. We were offered the refrig./freezer in the communal area, which was fine, except that would entail walking to it in the dark to retrieve items for dinner, returning leftovers after dinner, then again in the morning darkness for coffee, etc. There were lions in camp during the day we had been informed, and at dusk a large male came to the waterhole.

After washing every item in the cooler bag, including cheese, due to a broken container of milk that had ruptured on the rough roads, I went for a much needed shower. There was no hot water in our unit. Even in the heat, a COLD shower/hair wash is not my idea of a good time.

The camp attendant checked the geezer, but could not get it to work. While there, he tried the 2 burner stove JIC. Only one burner worked. For about 5 seconds. Then fire started shooting out of the temperature knob. He quickly put that out, but we now had no stove, no hot water, no refrigerator, no freezer.

What next? A cobra in my bed?

We grilled chicken, heated our vegetables in foil over the coals and just reminded ourselves, "It's all part of the adventure!"

Unfortunately, the very next day a new freezer was delivered in to the communal area, so our food had been moved into it. Only problem…it was "room temp", i.e. air temp, or about 40 plus degrees. As the day grew hotter and hotter, so did our (semi) frozen meats, and the freezer was not able to overcome the heat. Adding to the problem was the fact that the wind had blown out the pilot light that fuels the gas freezer, and no one had noticed. Everything was now air temperature, and a gooey, bloody mess.

On a brighter note, all of our problems were sorted by late afternoon the next day, which is very admirable, in light of the distances everyone had to travel to make all the repairs.

The good thing, however, is that I was able to mark this experience off my Bucket List.

The Ugly - Brown Hyenas



We were lucky this year to see 3 brown hyenas in a single morning. That was obviously a celestial sign that I need to expose them to people for what they are, mainly so people will realize how lucky they are to have never seen even one.



I also think that should secure me a place in the Guinness Book of World Records, or at least an extra Guinness Stout.

Overview
Brown hyenas have a weakness. They have to eat to live.

So they commit two deadly sins every day: Envy and Sloth - they want what every other creature fought long and hard to obtain, and they themselves were not willing to put forth the energy and effort required to accomplish that task.

Because of this, you commonly see them stealing stuff, which is against the Ten Commandments.

For these reasons all brown hyenas go to Hell when they die.

Description



Like most quadrupeds, they typically have four legs, marked in jailhouse stripes, which should give you pause for concern. Their legs are neatly accessorized with four disproportionate feet.



All brown hyenas dress the same - drab brown garb (otherwise they'd be named Paisley Hyenas, etc).
However, they do have one change of clothes, and that's a trench coat. Mind you, you'll never see them wearing it in the wild, as it's saved for special occasions like visits to malls and elementary schools.



Their tails are in a perpetual state of disarray, a constant high state of alert, due to the static electricity brought on by their obsession with balloons (and twisting them into the shape of small farm animals). As a result, their tails are very effective Bug Zappers.

Daily life of a Brown Hyena
B. hyenas, (I'm just gonna abbrev.'cause they're really not worth all the extra typing, seeing as how they lazily let every other predator catch and prepare their meals) often wake up in a pissy mood, partially because they hate their jobs and their spouse was caught cheating on them.



After waking up, B.hy. (my respect is waning, as should yours) must begin their daily eating rituals which may be interrupted by the presence of predators like lions, leopards, the Satan spawn known as Spotted Hyenas, baby clowns, feral cats and feral midgets.



Once the B.Hy. is done with eating it is nearly bed time. They finish the day off by making sweet hyena love to either a warm gym sock or a rotting carcass they stole but couldn't finish eating.





Needless to say, these elusive, secretive malcontents' creepiness factor is off the charts. They are constantly looking over their shoulder to see if anyone has figured out what dastardly deeds they are hiding. I suspect it involves whips and chains, or the afore mentioned small farm animals.



If I had my way, I'd trade all their pelts for whiskey, or Guinness Stout.

Brilliant narration and ideas again, Ex!

Looking at the shadows, one has to get up early to watch fox babies?

I quite like the brownies...eccentric individuals always on edge and...