One night at Kruger Vic and I went on a guided sunset drive with about 25 other people, most of whom were highly inebriated, middle aged, white South African women. We had stopped by the side of a river and were watching a few elephants, when our guide told us that he had just heard that there was a pride of lions in another part of the park. We took off; this is the one thing everyone was really hoping to see. When we got to the spot, there were easily 15 lions; several lionesses, lots of cubs, and a couple of adult male lions. They were all walking right down the road, just feet away from the safari-bus. It was absolutely breathtaking. There is just no way for me to do it justice here.
While that first 20 minutes or so of the ride was easily the highlight of our time in Kruger, the following three hours were slightly less thrilling (though no less entertaining). At one point we were stopped for maybe 10 minutes, watching a pair of guinea fowl while the group of women I mentioned above asked the guide questions about these birds’ eating and mating habits… I should mention that, in Niger, I am woken up almost every morning by the flock of guinea fowl that live in my neighbor’s yard, and that they are more common than chickens. Imagine being on safari in this huge, famous national park and listening to someone explain the eating habits of a chicken… Not exactly what I had in mind when we signed up, but I have to say I thought it was funny.
A little later on, we stopped to watch a rabbit, while they debated loudly amongst themselves about that rabbit. One woman felt very strongly that we shouldn’t pay him any attention at all. “They’re not indigenous!!” She insisted, “the British brought them here! They’re not native to our country!” It took all of my self control not to point out the irony of an Afrikaan woman making that comment…
The rest of our time at Kruger involved wandering through the park, and we were lucky enough to come literally within feet of elephants, rhinos, giraffes, baboons, impala, etc. It was truly amazing; everything I could have hoped it to be.
While that first 20 minutes or so of the ride was easily the highlight of our time in Kruger, the following three hours were slightly less thrilling (though no less entertaining). At one point we were stopped for maybe 10 minutes, watching a pair of guinea fowl while the group of women I mentioned above asked the guide questions about these birds’ eating and mating habits… I should mention that, in Niger, I am woken up almost every morning by the flock of guinea fowl that live in my neighbor’s yard, and that they are more common than chickens. Imagine being on safari in this huge, famous national park and listening to someone explain the eating habits of a chicken… Not exactly what I had in mind when we signed up, but I have to say I thought it was funny.
A little later on, we stopped to watch a rabbit, while they debated loudly amongst themselves about that rabbit. One woman felt very strongly that we shouldn’t pay him any attention at all. “They’re not indigenous!!” She insisted, “the British brought them here! They’re not native to our country!” It took all of my self control not to point out the irony of an Afrikaan woman making that comment…
The rest of our time at Kruger involved wandering through the park, and we were lucky enough to come literally within feet of elephants, rhinos, giraffes, baboons, impala, etc. It was truly amazing; everything I could have hoped it to be.
No comments:
Post a Comment