'I am sorry"
Norm is apologizing, at the end of one of the most amazing days i could imagine. We are a scant 20 meters or so from a herd of 5 wild White Rhinos, as they trundle into the high grass bushland of Matobo National Park in central Zimbabwe. In a minute, we will see a vivid and large rainbow above the hills of Matobos National Park as an incredible sunset unfolds outside of our open air Toyota safari pickup.
Norm (working today for Black Rhino Safari) has nothing to apologize for, he has educated and enthralled us throughout the day. Holding forth on topics from Cecil Rhodes and diamonds to a bush pharmacy of vine laxatives and bark ropes, he has beguiled us. We discussed modern politics/economics in Zim (and projections for post-Mugabe) and the wars and projects of colonialism. He showed us male dung beatles elegantly pushing their perfectly formed rolled dung and the lifestyle and rock art of the bushmen; and brought us close to hugely impressive mega-animals (cros, rhinos, hippos).
The entire experience has been in stark contrast to a couple oof ther tours here in Zim, our disappointing guide in Chimanimani National Park and Antelope Park. For the former, our guide was unable to keep up with our necessary pace, imparted next to no new info about the area or flora/fauna and even went so far as to litter in the park. Needless to say, we were underwhelmed with that guide. For the latter, it is a bit more complicated, but the contrast is dramatic between walking amongst massive 2 ton wild white rhinos, with an inherent unpredictability, and that of a lion walk that is highly structured and takes place under the strict control of Antelope Park.
Two parts of our day with Norm in Matobo stand out;
- Walking Amongst Rhinos Our first glimpse of these majestic beasts came from the truck, as two were moving at a jog through shrub land. They were moving fast because this was not their territory and they had to show the 'owner' of this space that they respected that ownership. Dominant male white rhinos come in between 2 and 2.5 tons, and are quite territorial. Once we had watched these two adolescent, and scared, rhinos recede into the distance, we circled back on foot towards a family of Rhinos that were sitting out the mid-day heat. They were bloody hard to make out, since a rhino sitting on the ground is basically impossible to distinguish from a rock. I did not see all four rhinos until we were 50 feet or so away. At this point, Norm had all of crouch down and diminish the sound of our footfalls. If one charged, we were to stand still since their eyesight is piss poor, but with 2 tons coming at you that seems like an incredibly daunting challenge.
We kept moving in towards the family and ultimately got into a vantage point about 20 feet from the mom and the adolescent. The dad could not be bothered and sauntered over to shade, hiking his amble backside our direction, apparently this is a marker of security. I am entranced, my heart is racing and i am holding my breadth at the nobility, heft and power of these animals. They are so beautiful, more taut than the slackness of the skin on elephants. We stay like this for suspended moments, until momma rhino starts to head right towards our little group of 8. Norm pops up, knocking his monkey stick against a log and the rhino veers off, a little confused as to how these strange organisms got so close. We are all giddy, thrilled that we got to see the primary object of today's safari and more deeply affected by the proximity to these super cool animals.
After the giddiness and excitement of this uber-close encounter, we head to a more sobering site - a rhino graveyard. One nearly enacted skeleton is that of a rhino that died of natural causes, and seeing how the bones and horns and hoofs all come together is quite remarkably. However, we head further into the bush and come to the 2nd skeleton that has a small bullet hole in the head and brutal machete marks where poachers forcefully hacked off the horn. Even though the horn is basically the same material as human toenail, and is a renewable resource, poachers brutally kill rhinos for $2,500 dollars. The roughly 8 kilo horn is worth up to $60,000 per kilo on the black market (almost half a million dollars for the whole horn), and the market exists pretty much entirely in Asia. Hundreds have been killed this year alone across Africa. The middle men reap the vast majority of the profits, with the actual poacher bearing the most risk, in fact facing the prospect of being shot on site at Matobos. I will never forget caressing the skull of this trusting, majestic animal and feeling the brutality of the many cut marks where the horn used to sit.
The second stunning stop in our safari is of the anthropological variety. There are hundreds of caves in the Park that have rock art painted by San bushmen. The art is thought to be as much as 25,000 years old in some places, but it is hard to get an accurate reading until the Zim government allows researchers to do carbon dating. There are about 50,000 San bushman alive today, in fact. The art was created by bushmen who preserved the stomach acid of a slaughtered animal, letting it ferment over a period of weeks until it was used as a dye on the cliff walls. The acid actually burned the rock, and the colors and drawing remain vivid after centuries of being exposed to the air and water.
The art is beautiful, layered to show both animals and people. Nearly all of the animals we have seen today and throughout Africa are on the walls of the cave where we were privileged to spend a few moments. Some of the animals are protrayed more gracefully and actually than virtually all of the art and cruios we have seen displayed and/or for sale. The giraffes, for instance, are more powerful and muscular on the walls of the cave, just as they are when you see them in person.
We spend a nice long time talking about the various theories behind who and why these were painted, as it is all somewhat up in the air. Before we leave, i spend a few personal moments physically taking in the weight of many millenniums in this space. The world has changed so dramatically, technology evolved almost incomprehensibly, millions dead in countless wars, and yet this is a rare opportunity to viscerally and directly connect with early man. We share the same DNA and, for this moment, the same space. Wow.
Thank you Norm.
:o)
ReplyDelete