October 31, Lower Sabie

Happy Halloween.  Sitting in the AfriWeb "Internet Cafe" at Lower Sabie on a cool, heavily overcast morning.  Got up early this morning and decided to take a stab at seeing/shooting lions.  One more time.  Yesterday evening, I came across some lions who had just made a kill.  Couldn't really see them - they were sleeping back in the bush.  Just a hint of tawny color and movement of heavy breathing while digesting a full meal.  So my plan was to head out as soon as the gate opened and get there before the hoards and have some quiet time with the lions.  It sort of worked.  I did get there well before everyone else.  Had to look around a bit - they'd cleverly moved to the other side of the road in order to lie about in the open.  They're fiendishly clever.  It was overcast and dark and they were far enough away that there was really no opportunity to photograph them. But it was nice to have my quiet time with lions and just breath it in.  Eventually another vehicle arrived.  Then a big photo safari vehicle full of real photographers.  Brother.  Remind me to shoot myself if I'm ever tempted to do that.  At that point, the lions all stood up and started walking through the bush toward the main road.  So we all drove around the corner a hundred meters or so and tried to guess where they'd emerge.  Then they came out onto the road - eight of them.  A couple of young males, four females and a couple of youngish cubs.  And they just casually walked up the road toward Lower Sabie.  At that point it was all over.  Huge crowds of people keeping pace with them.  Like disciples.  Again, there's the experience of big males walking by so close that you literally could lean out of the window and touch them.  It's breathtaking.  What people don't realize is that these aren't Hollywood lions.  They're scarred, lumpy, dirty.  The little ones both looked to have some sort of abscesses.  Anyway, the scrum got too big so I eventually passed all of the lions (on the right of course) and left that herd of sorry people.

Then, a few kilometers down the road, I see another big traffic jam.  You have to realize that there aren't lots of roads.  There's really only one way to go anywhere.  So, I'm thinking, great, more frickin' lions.  But they weren't lions.  It was a pack of wild dogs, moving fast along the road.  Now lions are cool, but dogs are a much more significant sight.  They're highly endangered.  They also move fast so they're not that easy to see and they seem to concentrate on the southern end of the park where I am now.  So, now I'm in another scrum, following the dogs.  I love to see the dogs but I'm realizing how much I'm not liking people, or at least how people behave under a circumstance where there's truly a once in a lifetime opportunity to see a rare predator and not everyone can have the same view.  But as every photographer knows, everyone is a 'photographer', in their mind's eye at least.  And, the dogs are moving.  So, I bailed, eventually working my way past the dogs, past the photo safari lady who's concern for her clients trumped anyone else's experience.

So I was angry and agitated.  One of the things about spending so much time alone here is that it's easy to stay too much in your head and obsess at the rudeness and boorishness of people, meaning of course people besides me and my friends.  I was wondering what would happen if I lost it and ended up in a fist fight in the middle of a road in Kruger National Park.  But then I remembered that I am 56 and have never actually been in a fist fist fight, really.  I'm guessing no good would come of that and the ultimate indignity would be to lose a fight to a French tourist.

So in this state of mind, I headed back to the camp at Lower Sabie to take a stab at breakfast.  And, amazingly, the restaurant was empty.  The 'barista' was pleasant and poured me a competent double espresso, and then another.  I decided to have yogurt and granola in the restaurant and Norbert the waiter was pleasant and attentive.  And actually walked around the corner to the shop to get jam because the restaurant didn't have any.  And I sat there overlooking the Lower Sabie River, watching hippos and a fish eagle, pestered by beautiful birds begging for food, and all seemed to reach balance again.

I don't know if there's a lesson here.  I'm trying to be more accepting of the fact that people all show up with various portions of selfishness, cluelessness and charity.  All I want is more quiet time with the wildlife.  And perfect lighting.  I came from halfway across the world.  I deserve it, right?

ps

Do you realize that in certain European countries, men wear capris?  Seriously.  Makes me want to wash my hands and go to Talledega.