This country, or at least this part of it, is so stunningly beautiful. Today we started out later, so we were out over dusk and dark.
We drank beers from a flattened-out area on a hill overlooking the savannah. The view was spectacular as the sun sank. It was quiet, only the wind noises and quiet conversations as everyone just looked at what was happening in the sky.
We weren’t the first ones there, we were beaten by a family of baboons of all sizes. They went to higher ground as soon as we got there, but stayed around to play on a big rock above us. They’re fuzzy because my camera isn’t the best; I need to do something about that. But meanwhile, it’s what I have. You can at least tell they are baboons.
Here’s our trusty vehicle. It has looooww gears, which are needed for the roads around here. With Nellybelle, the jeep of my childhood, we called the lowest gear super-double-extry-low, and this vehicle had the same gear. There are radios in all the trucks, and the rangers are constantly communicating with each other about where a particular animal is. The system works.
There are aardvarks around, but we haven’t seen them because they are not only nocturnal, but also shy. However, you do see evidence of their presence, in the burrows they dig. They move on, don’t use the burrows again, but the wart hogs do. The hog backs in and fills the burrow enough that no one else can get in. Facing outward, they can either defend themselves, or leave fast. Which this guy did shortly after I took this picture. Our ranger had told us that’s what they did, and we were delighted that we saw this.
And one more sunset picture. It was so, so gorgeous. As I stood there I thought how incredible it was that I was standing there, looking over the African savannah! The African bush!
Stories from the Hat 