Where's Waldo?

Imagine the feeling that rushes over you when you see a live African animal in its natural habitat 20 feet in front of you for the first time. Breathtaking is all I can say. That first afternoon out we saw hippos, a crocodile, leopard, lions, and tracked elephants - none of them with any ease I must add; it was more of a where's Waldo expedition. But the guides are amazing - very professional, intuitive, and collaborative. They work together and share information about tracks and sounds, animal behavior and movement. The safari vehicle is a land cruiser with a canopy and stadium type seating. Besides me (someone who likes nice teeth but otherwise knows nothing about them), occupants in the truck include my friend, Cheryl, a dental hygienist, Cheryl, a teacher and her husband Geoff, a dental sales rep along with Gary another dental sales rep and his wife Judy an office manager in a dental office. These factoids I reveal to give you a sense of what our group was like. The two couples have been married for ages and have amusing and sardonic interactions. Judy and Gary in particular had us all in stitches most of the time with their banter. Cheryl, the teacher, was hilarious asking Frank to repeat and spell everything he said as English is not his first language and she doesn't speak Ndebele - the mother tongue.

We were all donning our safari gear, buttoned up to the neck and down to the ankles with lightweight mosquito repellent & SPF clothing we reinforced with a covering of bug spray just to make sure. I got eaten alive anyway but at least I didn't get malaria, which evidently stays with you forever if contracted. We topped off our fashion statement with hats and rugged shoes which ended up with souvenir elephant dug between the tread. Adornments included sunglasses, binoculars, cameras, water, pen and paper (to record interesting facts). Recall that I mentioned I took my old film camera to use on safari and my digital point and shoot as backup. Well I jammed the film in my camera and broke it the first bloody night out. Hence forward I was solely reliant on my happy snappy which I'm pleased to say performed pretty well.

So after a thorough ornithology lesson and the wonderment that is birds that aren't pigeons and crows it was time to get down to serious game viewing. We first came across a hippo pool where half a dozen or so were bobbing around. Hippos are enormous! The have a slick hairless coat and jaws that will crush just about anything. They are one of the most ferocious creatures in Africa and are responsible for most human deaths there each year (aside from war and disease). They hang out in the cool water during the day, able to stay under water for 6 minutes at a time, and rove around grazing at night. It is said that they are close relatives of whales and porpoises. While not vehemently territorial by nature, hippos spread their dung on trees on the pool's perimeter to stake claim in their watering hole. We were just about to pass through a flooded out dip in the trail when we spotted a 3 foot crocodile swimming in it! Good thing Frank had good reflexes and a reverse gear.

We could tell there were elephants in the area because of the destruction all around us. Trees are uprooted in search of water and bark is peeled off a large tree to get to the sap beneath it. They wrap their strong trunks around tree limbs tearing it off its trunk and stuff the whole thing into their mouth. It seems like they would run out of food in no time in their territory. But nature is so perfect that the seeds coming out during defecation germinate and generate new growth beginning the cycle all over again. We were so excited to see elephants (which evaded us that day) but as we rounded a curve there lay a stunning, slumbering pride of lions in a meadow. Lions are the laziest creature in the wild sleeping 22 hours and hunting the other 2. It is the job of the lioness to track and capture food but the male gets first dibs. A male is not considered part of the pride beyond 3 years old and may have a few prides in his territory. At three, strong and capable lions leave their mothers' clutches and seek their own prides and territories. This pride, about a dozen strong, was guarded by a big beautiful male who acknowledged our presence making sure we weren't a threat. Most continued to dream but a few of them were curious to see who the paparazzi was.

Frank got word that there was a leopard draped over a branch reserving his energy for hunting and waiting for the blistering heat to pass. So we sped off hoping to catch up with him before the other lookieloos chased him away. He let us gawk at him for a few minutes before becoming perturbed. He leaped off the tree and meandered back and forth in front of our vehicles for a while in search of private solitude. He was very cool to let us encroach on his space and most tolerant of our following his every move.

Night was falling and as I've already described cocktail hour as being critical to the safari experience so we high-tailed it over to the lagoon for a glass of wine as the sun set the sky on fire. A botswana sunset is one to behold and one I'll never forget.