African Mysteries
“Africa has her mysteries and even a wise man cannot understand them but a wise man respects them.” – Miriam Madeba
It is difficult to understand why two septuagenerians would travel half way around the world to immerse themselves in the complex mysteries of Africa. Upon reflection, a number of possible motivations emerge. Travels earlier in life gave us reason to believe in the observation of Aldous Huxley that, “to travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries.” We knew that we didn’t know much about Africa. For us, it was truly the dark continent. We also knew that the best way to gain understanding of other places and cultures was to get your boots on the ground. On a subtler level, we also suspected that a trip to Africa was a journey into mystery in a land of natural wonders that one’s “day to day USA” was unable to provide. Finally, we are great believers in the wisdom of the old African proverb: “to get lost is to learn the way.” There is no better place to get lost than Africa. We booked the trip.
Our preparations were exhaustive and often comical. I stood in our back yard spraying insecticides on shirts, pants, socks and underwear; we gathered a small mountain of batteries for our devices which included headlamps, sound machines, flashlights, and cameras. I bought a new monocular and boonie hat. We tucked in a few alcohol wipes, multitools, collapsible water bottles and power adapters. We waterproofed our travel duffle bags and laid in some camper’s toilet paper. We carried more insecticide than a soy bean farm in Iowa. After a week of packing and repacking – we felt we were ready…of course, we were not.
We sought knowledge in various places. Some of the places and sites we visited actually moved our understanding forward. First, we gathered factoids and lists. Lists were critical and everywhere available. We started with list of gear, drugs, dos and do nots and became familiar with “the fives:” the big, the small and the ugly. The big five referred to the most sought – after animal sightings and the list was: elephant, rhino, cape buffalo, hippo and leopard. Oddly, the Nile crocodile, the black mamba and the other iconic animals were not on the list, suggesting that stature might have been the determining factor. Another list manifested the “10 Deadliest Animals in Africa.” On this list, the croc and the black mamba appeared along with the puff adder, tsetse fly and the mosquito. So we had lists for the animals you wanted to see and those you wanted to avoid. The glamour guys of the big five and the deadliest 10 yielded some interesting facts. We learned that the most animal related deaths in Africa are caused by the lowly mosquito and the number four killer is the tsetse fly. The mighty lion – the “king of beasts” came in at an unimpressive number nine. These lists provided little help in planning a trip to the bush and we were left wondering if the Big Five simply included the most photogenic critters or those that were the hardest to hunt. It was true that an African safari was not considered successful if one did not encounter the Five.
Olio Folio 