“Hurry! It’s already 4:30 am and we are getting late..!” My
husband yelled at me, seeing me dragging myself towards getting ready. I am not
an early bird and 4:30 am is generally when I am in my sugar dreams but today
was being forced to leave at this hour. We packed all the food for our journey,
and after making some silly, ‘C’mon! Let’s sleep instead’ faces we started for
an African Wildlife Safari (Kruger National Park). I put on a neck rest and
prepared to sleep in the backseat. But, as the journey began, the quiet dark
roads seemed to sing a melodious song and the breeze blew me a kiss every time
it stroked the hair off my face. This feeling was heart melting and passed on
positive vibes. I could barely close my eyes now.
Hours of travel and we reached the main gate of the National
Park. This was a self-drive safari park and animals inside were in their
natural habitat roaming freely. I was for sure scared as I had running thoughts
of some animal attacking us. As we entered into the park, I was unaware of the
fact that this day was about to change my life in some way. The park officials
had given us a paper map to find our way inside, this sure gave me a feeling of
jumanji (No network inside for our beloved GPS to guide us).It was an early
delightful morning, I was able to hear the long forgotten sound of birds
chirping merrily. After driving for a while steadily, we spotted a group of
lovely grazing Impala’s. They were so calm and healthy. Their eyes were
sparkling, skin like a velvet shawl and horns as if designed by someone with
great ability to be creative.
While passing a
bridge over a pond, a loud groan drew our attention. For a moment it was spooky
as we couldn’t find or spot anything in vicinity. A few minutes later the
gigantic creature emerged from the pond to catch its breath. It was none other
than the strong hippopotamus, it was the first time I heard its grunt. I don’t
know whether they were trying to communicate with each other or laugh, yet it
was very fascinating to see the hippo dip in and out at times, groan and also
spread its jaw to 180 degree flat. Moving along the same road we saw a herd of wildebeest crossing our roads. Or should I say that we were crossing their path? After all, the jungle was their home and we were just the visitors. I was further amazed by the magnificent yet docile Giraffe. Its long neck made it look more commanding but its eyes revealed the true decency.
Other than spotting animals, driving and
just being in a jungle with stunning landscape was also soothing and
enthusiastic. “Look..!! Look..!! Ahead”, a sudden panicky statement from one of
our friend’s alarmed us, however it was not an alarming cry but a happy
surprising one as we saw a herd of massive African elephants approaching
towards us from the mountains. Their big waving ears, their huge feet (they
could have killed us with a thumb), the long trunks, the extended ivory and the
gracious walk. In no time we were surrounded by these elephants from 3 sides,
we waited patiently for them to pass, but, to our surprise the whole herd
stopped walking and were waiting for us to cross, it was an unexpected gesture
from such an animal. Amidst this scene, I saw an elephant change its way and
approaching towards us fast, maybe he was in a playful mood that day but scared
the hell out of us. We slowly hid in a hide nearby and watched these elephants
splashing the water with their trunks and enjoying their baths.
We freshened up ourselves in one of the refreshment centers
inside the park and started our drive again. In a little while of driving we
saw many cars jammed on a road, we were curious of what they had spotted, but
soon our curiosity came to rest when we saw dozens of baboons playing and
jumping on the road approaching towards us. We made sure our car was locked and
window panes up, and observed them do their funny acts. It was fun indeed.
Slowly after their permission, the car block cleared and we were on our way
ahead.
That day I came across many other animals like rhinoceros,
zebra, warthog, wild buffalo, etc. and also a variety of birds. Unfortunately
out of BIG 5 of Africa we could only find Elephants, Rhinoceros, Wild buffalo
and a lion from too far. We sadly missed the other wild cats like leopard and
cheetahs, but as someone has rightly said, “It is better have something left
behind, as it gives us a reason to come back”.
That day I saw the magic of nature. A small demo of the
mastermind who created our universe. All these animals who were roaming freely
in the jungle, were sometimes so difficult to spot even from a small distance
because of their camouflage property. They do not need to hide, but can easily
manage to stay away from hunters and predators. They all are not of same
colors, but all of them blend with the forest in the same way. Observing these
animals doing their own business calmly made me understand that their needs are
so minimum, they have their own ways of communication, they are charmed by you
as long as you don't scare them and also we humans are so heartless sometimes
that to fulfill our needs we destroy their lives. Just to be a part of their
life from a distance made me happy. Now I get the animal lovers, why they are
so involved with them. Watching just a handful of animals made us realize that
as much right we have to live on this earth, same right the animal does have.
Live and let live!
