mounting troubles
The rain was plentiful, the animals poised, and the Tjimba back in the mountains. And Tess finally met Kemuu - that's him trying to look tall.
Three weeks on the warm side of the world was just what the doctor ordered, the doctor being me. I planned it all and everything went perfectly, no one more surprised than I.
First up, Etosha National Park for safari with friends. Apparently last year's drought decimated the herds but this year's rains have brought them roaring back. Green and babies everywhere.
Give that Etosha is the size of Connecticut it's rare to see animals up close, but twice in one day we rounded a corner to find huge tuskers blocking the road. Both sauntered toward us as I backed away, looking for a good spot to brush-plow should the bastards get to steppin'.
Not our only close encounter but lions are different - no way they're getting inside without a slim jim. Still, having one of these so close does not go unnoticed by one's limbic system. We met a guy who told us about a morning at the same lodge were we stayed, inside the park and right next to a water hole. He was alone with his coffee, watching lions have their morning drink. As the lions paced away he got up to leave too but stepped on a stick. The large male paused and with slow strained patience, turned his head and caught his eye. Two stout fences between them and not a hint of movement in his direction, but the guy said it was all he could do not to shit his meal.
We went on a night drive with Pentha, who scanned the night with a red light the better to not blind the animals. The hyenas were about but no lions, probably just as well as we were in an open car and I'm reasonably sure Tel wouldn't have been able to take the proximity.
Eyes bigger than his stomach, poor bastard. World sucks when you can't chew your po'boy so I guess it's back to natural selection for these guys.
We then took the long, weary drive up north to see the Tjimba, who last I was there (in September) were living in new houses set up by the government. They were also getting provisioned and indolent, and getting fed up with sitting around doing nothing. Kemuu and I guessed that, as usual, the government wouldn't follow through on their promises and right we were - the food trucks hadn't come back since we left, nor had the teacher for the tent-school, or the nurse who locked up the clinic when she left. So the Tjimba are back to the mountains, leaving maybe a dozen folks behind just in case somebody shows up. Great for me - come March, into the mountains I go to live the mobile life.
We had only a narrow window to visit but there's always enough time for lunch and a smoke with our old pal Vapondehi. And he and I completed another swap - a kudu-bone pipe for me, two fat cuban Montecristoes for him. Always good to see old friends.
Been raining hard in Angola and the Cunene is raging worse than I've ever seen. Bodes ominous for March, when I return during when what should be the local rainy season. Note to self: bring DEET.
We had just enough time for a quick visit to Swakopmund. Since we were here last, this wreck seems to have shifted and moved a bit closer to shore, and been developed as a tourist attraction. For a price they'll foist you out on a bosun's chair, presumably to take your chances among the breakers. In a rare moment of sense, I demurred.
A drive up the coast brought us to Cape Cross, where Diago Cao stopped a few years before Columbus set out for America. No mystery why he stopped here as the seals were even more plentiful then, nor how he found the place while still out to sea. The stench was incandescent. Bury fish in a soiled diaper, dig it up in a month, then light it on fire. I coined a new word to describe this smell but unfortunately pronouncing requires that you actually vomit for the third syllable and make a keening noise for the fourth. I don't see this making the OED. We drove straight home for showers and I just threw my t-shirt away.
Back in Yorkshire where it's dark by 5 but feels air conditioned all the time. Got 6 weeks to finish an analysis, write 2 papers and 3 lectures, start hiking every day, and sort out my research visa. I can feel my tan fading already.
P.S. Sad tidings to report. While in Tjimbaland, Kemuu picked up a hot lead on Mundongi, the last of the Tjimba guys contacted in 1964 and pictured in the Yellow Book. We've been tracking him for years and heard he'd moved near the hot springs outside Okanguati, an easy drive instead of the usual day-long hike. Unfortunately he wasn't there, and those who were told us the old one died in October. A sad loss but at near 90, well, we should all live so long.
Indeed. When I was in Sterkfontien cave last summer, I remembered that an old friend, a paleontologist from UCL, was planning to be in the area. I dropped him an email but didn't hear back, so I assumed he'd changed his address. Found out on the last night of this trip from a mutual friend that he never made it to South Africa - right about the time I wrote him, he died in a motorcycle accident in London. Here's to you Charlie, it was a great privilege.
Three weeks on the warm side of the world was just what the doctor ordered, the doctor being me. I planned it all and everything went perfectly, no one more surprised than I.
First up, Etosha National Park for safari with friends. Apparently last year's drought decimated the herds but this year's rains have brought them roaring back. Green and babies everywhere.
Give that Etosha is the size of Connecticut it's rare to see animals up close, but twice in one day we rounded a corner to find huge tuskers blocking the road. Both sauntered toward us as I backed away, looking for a good spot to brush-plow should the bastards get to steppin'.
Not our only close encounter but lions are different - no way they're getting inside without a slim jim. Still, having one of these so close does not go unnoticed by one's limbic system. We met a guy who told us about a morning at the same lodge were we stayed, inside the park and right next to a water hole. He was alone with his coffee, watching lions have their morning drink. As the lions paced away he got up to leave too but stepped on a stick. The large male paused and with slow strained patience, turned his head and caught his eye. Two stout fences between them and not a hint of movement in his direction, but the guy said it was all he could do not to shit his meal.
We went on a night drive with Pentha, who scanned the night with a red light the better to not blind the animals. The hyenas were about but no lions, probably just as well as we were in an open car and I'm reasonably sure Tel wouldn't have been able to take the proximity.
Eyes bigger than his stomach, poor bastard. World sucks when you can't chew your po'boy so I guess it's back to natural selection for these guys.
We then took the long, weary drive up north to see the Tjimba, who last I was there (in September) were living in new houses set up by the government. They were also getting provisioned and indolent, and getting fed up with sitting around doing nothing. Kemuu and I guessed that, as usual, the government wouldn't follow through on their promises and right we were - the food trucks hadn't come back since we left, nor had the teacher for the tent-school, or the nurse who locked up the clinic when she left. So the Tjimba are back to the mountains, leaving maybe a dozen folks behind just in case somebody shows up. Great for me - come March, into the mountains I go to live the mobile life.
We had only a narrow window to visit but there's always enough time for lunch and a smoke with our old pal Vapondehi. And he and I completed another swap - a kudu-bone pipe for me, two fat cuban Montecristoes for him. Always good to see old friends.
Been raining hard in Angola and the Cunene is raging worse than I've ever seen. Bodes ominous for March, when I return during when what should be the local rainy season. Note to self: bring DEET.
We had just enough time for a quick visit to Swakopmund. Since we were here last, this wreck seems to have shifted and moved a bit closer to shore, and been developed as a tourist attraction. For a price they'll foist you out on a bosun's chair, presumably to take your chances among the breakers. In a rare moment of sense, I demurred.
A drive up the coast brought us to Cape Cross, where Diago Cao stopped a few years before Columbus set out for America. No mystery why he stopped here as the seals were even more plentiful then, nor how he found the place while still out to sea. The stench was incandescent. Bury fish in a soiled diaper, dig it up in a month, then light it on fire. I coined a new word to describe this smell but unfortunately pronouncing requires that you actually vomit for the third syllable and make a keening noise for the fourth. I don't see this making the OED. We drove straight home for showers and I just threw my t-shirt away.
Back in Yorkshire where it's dark by 5 but feels air conditioned all the time. Got 6 weeks to finish an analysis, write 2 papers and 3 lectures, start hiking every day, and sort out my research visa. I can feel my tan fading already.
P.S. Sad tidings to report. While in Tjimbaland, Kemuu picked up a hot lead on Mundongi, the last of the Tjimba guys contacted in 1964 and pictured in the Yellow Book. We've been tracking him for years and heard he'd moved near the hot springs outside Okanguati, an easy drive instead of the usual day-long hike. Unfortunately he wasn't there, and those who were told us the old one died in October. A sad loss but at near 90, well, we should all live so long.
Indeed. When I was in Sterkfontien cave last summer, I remembered that an old friend, a paleontologist from UCL, was planning to be in the area. I dropped him an email but didn't hear back, so I assumed he'd changed his address. Found out on the last night of this trip from a mutual friend that he never made it to South Africa - right about the time I wrote him, he died in a motorcycle accident in London. Here's to you Charlie, it was a great privilege.