Ernest Hemingway - Green Hills of Africa
We are awakened at 5:00 AM, in order to be on the road by 5:45 for the morning game drive. Everyone is ready to go by 5:47, but what we did not realize was that Edward’s watch was five minutes faster than ours. Edward is crestfallen when another safari truck drives by our camp at 5:44. The guide driving the first truck down the dusty road has an advantage, as he can easily see the fresh tracks of the animals that crossed the road in the night. That first truck then obliterates the tracks by running over them, making the game spotting task more difficult for the the guides in the trucks that follow.
Edward is trying to find the lions we had seen the night before. He has
to get out of the truck to sort out which are the the fresh lion tracks
and determine where they are heading. The game viewing along the river
is spectacular. As the sun comes up we watch a large herd of impala mixing
with an equally large group of baboons, moving out of the bush, across
the road, and into the open area between the road and the river. The animals
are indifferent to the vehicle, passing quite close as they cross the road.
Small groups of impala suddenly take off running, hopping and leaping high
into the air as we watch. We find the seemingly pointless display and of
their acrobatic prowess beautiful but inexplicable, within the context
of their continuous struggle to find food, water, and avoid predators.
Over the next couple of days, we were to understand and appreciate this
exuberant and wasteful use of calories as the " It’s Sunrise and I’m
not Dead" dance of celebration.
On the day’s two game drives we see giraffe, cape buffalo, a large water
monitor, crocodiles, kudu, waterbucks, and elephants everywhere. Memorable
elephant sights include watching: elephants eating peacefully a few feet
from the truck, two young bull elephants play-fighting by a waterhole,
and a mature female mock charge the vehicle, then stand blocking the road
and trumpeting, as calves cross the road behind her.
Edward explains that the drought has driven much of the wildlife to the
river, creating a higher density of wildlife near the river than normal.
This also causes a higher density of tourist-carrying safari trucks along
the river, which is why, he reminds us yet again, it is important to get
out early.
I am learning to appreciate some of the nuances of
Edward’s style as a guide. When he sees something of interest, he lets
the truck coast to a stop, points it out immediately, gives a brief explanation,
then turns, looks back at us, and smiles. The smile seems to be a question,
or maybe a challenge. He is leaving something unsaid, and wondering if
you can figure it out. He gives you the data points, then smiles. This
morning, a data point: "Here, look at these tracks, there are lion
hunting here." At sunset, watching a herd of hundreds of Buffalo cross
the road in front of us, behind us, all around us, another data point:
"Look at that one limping. Behind the others." Turn. Smile. Connect
the dots. It all seems obvious as I write this now, but that Tuesday evening,
driving back to camp, I didn’t put it together. I was watching the fires
burning in the fields, across the river in Namibia.
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