Chapter Eight
In Which the Selinda
Reserve Amazes
I've certainly always had a very good opinion of Botswana and so I paint a very good picture of the country and I've never pretended to be painting an entirely realistic picture.--Alexander McCall Smith, author of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, set in Botswana
I think my mouth might have been hanging open as we drove along the waterway in the Selinda spillway. I never expected such beautiful scenery and wondered if, like author McCall quoted above, I was seeing something not quite real.
A black-backed jackal.
A female green-backed heron in flight!
Marg is in front with our driver/guide Park.
Portrait of the waterbuck above.
Smoke in the sky from the wildfires made for some different lighting in the area where we were. While we couldn't smell it, we could see it in distant vegetation. It created a misty look to photos and, in these photos, a "sunset" appearance.
Below are baboons.
I call the one below "Chillin'".
"Pensive."
It was almost dark as we made our way towards camp. At a small pond, several hyenas were relaxing and a few were in the water. One had a piece of bone and was trying to get the others to chase him.
I was fascinated by this display of play in animals known for being sneaky and stealing food from other animals.
Back at camp, we had a little time before dinner to relax around the fire.
And then we dined al fresco under a chandelier.
I lay in bed in my tent that night thinking about hyenas playing. It was a new side of those animals that I'd never seen and it opened a new horizon for me.
I thought about the camp and how it evoked the days of early exploration with its trunks and crates and oil lamps.
"It's perfect," I told myself.
And with those words two things happened:
1) I went to sleep with a smile on my face, and,
2) I opened the door wide for that dad-ratted Murphy.
Talk about asking for trouble!!!
You bring a different light to Africa. I always thought it was nothing but jungle. When I was a kid, Africa was always called the "Dark Continent". The old films from the '40's and '50's didn't do much to change those thoughts. I was hooked on the old Olsen and Johnson safari films of their hunting expeditions. I look at your photos and I am reminded that a lot of it is much the same scenery as the U.S.
ReplyDeleteMost of the places I’ve been are arid grasslands. Savannahs. Others are forested around water sources. I think the amount of water sources is what surprised me the most. I remember the documentaries about the rains finally coming and the rebirth of life. That said, I know there are places where draughts kill wildlife. Parts of Kenya is experiencing that now. As for jungles, there are jungles but I haven’t been to those places.
DeleteThe US might have the same type of scenery, but it doesn’t have the astonishing numbers of wildlife and birds!
DeleteLet's begin with your, new to both of us, word gob-smacked : Gobsmacked means “astounded” or “astonished,” often to the point of being speechless. But you don't say gobsmacked just any time you want to mean “shocked.” It's a slang term that really calls attention to the fact that you were completely not expecting what happened—a lot like flabbergasted.
ReplyDeleteThe fires in the distance certainly created a somewhat eerie background to your two photos thereof.
Patti has read, and really enjoyed them, several of Alexander McCall Smith's books. She thinks maybe you Gullible recommended them to her.
The black backed jackal has an interesting color and design to his coat. The portrait of the female waterbuck is stunning.
Patti and Cap
Yep. Gobsmacked to point of a dearth of adjectives to describe this country.
ReplyDeleteYep. I did recommend Smith’s enjoyable, but fanciful, depiction of Botswanans.
Yep. Loved the effects of the smoke.