In Dec 2008, we went on a family holiday to Kenya, Africa, and saw the wildlife in their wilderness that proved to be a very moving experience. We went on 9 safari outings in three national parks- Amboseli, Aberdeen and Masai Mara .
It was a bright afternoon, and we set out in our 4 WD deep into the prairie like jungle – with a few scanty trees strewn in between the vast plains. Long, shiny grass with patches of green spread around watering holes. The great migration of millions of animals takes place every year, through this stretch of green interlocked between two imposing mountains as if it served as a vast gateway, to the Beyond!
Driving through the designated tracks our safari driver Nicolas caught a slight movement in the grass about a km away and drove slowly, closer, and switched the engines off. Beyond his native skills of sight and scent, he was intuitive at spotting the animals. And lo and behold, right across a small bush appeared the Majestic African Lion, with its consort, stretching itself and seemed relaxed in absolute peace. All we could see was a vast stillness, absolute and immaculate. Their golden color in the bright afternoon glare and spotless shiny skin stood out, as if Purusha and Prakriti were lying beside each other! There was a complete and settled peace on its face, and all we could observe was the slow heave of their torsos in sync, with their breath, as if they were practicing “pranayama” as a pair. We were stuck by the sheer beauty, tranquility, and deep silence on its face and it was so much a part of all that was around it, and one with it. A fierce, ferocious and devouring Lion seemed so harmless, unless it was on a hunt or was provoked. It simply dawned on us, no wild animal ever killed another driven by hatred or greed like we men do. It also seemed so helpless, as it could not rid itself of the jungle fly striking at its mane but shake its head in vain!
Amboseli, set in the rain shadow of mighty Mount Kilimanjaro is home to one of the largest populations of Elephants in the wild. We moved along to see swaying groups of slow rhythmic movements of brown, from a distance – families of the great African Elephants marching in. A large group of over 20 closed up to a watering hole, the grand Matriarch the tallest, wisest, and perhaps the oldest was leading the pack.
The elephant family is a picture postcard of what any happy and contented human family could ever aim to be. The little ones were darker and black, and they were barely a few weeks old. They ran around its mothers protective legs and suckled at their whim, and were getting pampered by the rest, rolling into the soft mud. The youth were no different from our ilk, locking onto their tusks and learning to fight and testing their strength. Their easy pace, and coordinated movements were a symbol of such harmony that one sees rarely in a human family.
With all its strength and size, the elephants ate on the staple of a vegetarian diet. The grownups were so conscious of their looks that their long white ivory tusks were pedicured after every meal by rubbing and polishing them against the grass! And they loved washing themselves, over and over. Our final encounter with a full grown large wild elephant was on the day we set off to leave the resort hotel in the jungle. We took a chance to leave earlier than allowed before day break and once we covered some 15 minutes on the dust tracks, there stood a majestic elephant fanning its large ears and looking at us intently with the head lights lighting its eyes like bright stars. We missed a couple of heart beats, if he chose to react with one nudge our 4W could take couple of rolls. Well we stopped and switched off the lights, and he came closer, looked at us, sort of gave a half smile and gently marched away.
Close encounter, and we thanked Ganesha! We were also lucky to have a darshan of Mt Kilimanjaro in its full glory.
Yet at another resort we set off early to catch a glimpse of the black Rhino – we drove amidst hordes of zebras, jackals, deer – all doing their early morning chores. Finally we went around a thicket that was full of thorns. There was a slight movement and there came out a full grown Rhino, which did half a circle of the thicket and went back into the bush. Strength and lightening speed of reaction, for a lazy looking Rhino, seem so unlikely, but true.
That evening we craved and craned our necks on the lookout for the dainty Giraffes and we were rewarded with the sight of watching young and fully grown ones crossing the road; they had such an elegant and sensuous walk. If only they could wear latest fashion, they can put to shame the best of trained cat walkers in the fashion ramps of the world. The frail and fragile fashion models of the world, I guess were inspired by the giraffes.
We stayed overnight at a resort that had a watering hole right within its precincts and was famously known to attract a whole herd of hippopotamuses – old and young, male and females. We found countless of them huddled in a small pond, with simply their backs and bums bumping up and down on the water table. We had a long wait till sun down, and they started climbing out, pulling their rather heavy bodies soaked all day in the cold water out for the night.
Each one like a customary kriya, yawned wide to show their large wide open mouth and their teeth, bother grudgingly walking away, into the receding sun set for a night out to return in the morning to recede into the water! Their discipline and rank and file, was almost army like, when they marched back into the night.
We checked into an interesting jungle resort in Aberdeen National Park, called The Arc. It was inspired by the Noah’s Arc and was a log house hotel, in the midst of a valley in between mountains and thick jungle. Interestingly, they lock the guests in after check-in in the early evening and then open up some of the jungle pathway gates for animals to naturally come over at night for watering. There were different alarms to announce the arrival of different animals, during the night.
Once we were locked in and we went to the viewing gallery. We were blessed with a herd of wild jungle buffaloes that looked pretty familiar, just as their less aggressive cousins we were used to seeing in India. These are part of the big 5 animals that Africa is proud of. With every gesture we made all they did was to shake their heads like a pendulum or they were in a symbolic gesture saying we listen to nothing; we are blissful in our own ignorance!
There was such a variety of color, shape and behaviour in animals. We saw myriad varieties of deer – each one agile, attentive and graceful, with a slight difference in size the black and white Zebras were another ubiquitous sight – we saw them everywhere. Interestingly, there were types of stripes in the same black and white that differentiated themselves into the various breeds and spotting. They were such wonderful creatures that you longed to bring home one – no wonder that Sita fell for one. We also had Neelgais, sporting proud headgears.
When we came to the last leg of our safaris we missed and longed to see the Leopards in the wild. On the return leg, we were driving out of the national reserve and on the way back we had two majestic leopards parading themselves right in front of the vehicle we drove. We followed them on the dirty track and on the wilder side and took a close look at the wonderful pair. They looked at us, gave their darshan and walked away as if they were not concerned with us in any way. We hit back the road and we had some serious adventure. We had a tyre flat and stopped and got out of the 4 WD to replace the tyre. We were hardly 50 meters away from where we saw the Leopards. The Leopards we met had their breakfast for sure as they could have had an easy prey with on us right there.
It was a delightful experience being so close to Mother Nature and experiencing the wonderful world of animal life. Most of these were labelled as close to extinction, and were protected wild life. As part of evolution, these wonderful creatures are creations of the divine and the sheer variety of shape, form, behaviour and habitat, indeed God had a very evolved CAD/CAM design house to make these creations.
The vastness around, and its silence lifted a curtain within to open up the vastness that resides within us, for a few transitory minutes – till we headed back to the Airport where the din and dust of the evolved human race hit us like a rock.
- K.V. Rao
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