If I hear those sleigh bells ring-a-ling one more time…

I’m moving to Mars! I’m getting on the next space shuttle outta here, via Russia I guess. I’ll be back in mid-January after all the “ho, ho, ho” and “Oh my God! What am I going to get so-and-so for Christmas?” and “black Friday that now happens on Wednesday” and post-Christmas deep discount sales are over.

You’d think living in an impoverished, nearly unheard of nation in the southeast corner of Africa would mean that Christmas doesn’t bear down on us until oh, I don’t know, December? But no. Congratulations America! You have managed to influence even this tiny country to haul out the Christmas decorations in OCTOBER and play Christmas carols over the speakers of every store since at least NOVEMBER 10^TH!

So I was thinking, “Where is a Christmas sufferer to go?” Not to a Muslim country. They pray over loud speakers EVERY DAY OF THE YEAR, morning, noon and night, plus. So that won’t do for someone seeking religious peace and quiet. Hmm, maybe a predominantly Buddhist country then. That’s an option. More of an option than boarding a space shuttle and launching into space until the Christmas season has passed…though that would be my first choice.

Maybe I should just start stocking up on water and non-perishable foodstuffs in September and just avoid all shops at all costs until mid-January. I’ll start my shopping list for next year now and get a head start on the 2012 Christmas onslaught. Enjoy the holidays everyone!

Batman – short and sweet

Originally distributed April 2009

We’re now doing a project on bats that roost in people’s houses. The project does not focus on the fact that they roost in these places, but we have to catch them there as they leave their roost at sunset.

The bats have to be tracked by vehicle because they cover a lot of ground quickly and often change direction. So we can only track one bat at a time because we only have one vehicle. Each bat is followed for 3 days, so every few days we trap bats and tag a new one. The roost that we chose is in a house that has a vent on one exterior wall that the bats enter and exit from every day. It’s about 10ft above the ground. As the bats take off in the evening they swoop down out of the vent and start flying as they’re falling toward the ground. They don’t fall on the ground, but they do have to drop to take off. They can’t leap off of something and start flying. We figured out that a simple trapping device, a 5 gallon bucket nailed to an 8ft wooden post, would do the trick. You simply hold the bucket under the vent and as they come out you catch them in the bucket before they can start flying. It’s brilliant!

There are 5 of us in the field—the two Danish grad students Kristine and Christina, their Irish field assistant Adam, Mduduzi, and me. We take turns catching the bats as they come out of the roost. One evening, Mduduzi was off and Adam was on bat catching duty. He was in position ready to catch them as they emerged. Kristine, Christina and I watched from a distance and told him when they started to come out so he’d know to move the bucket into position. As they were coming out we shouted, “Lift! Lift! Higher! Higher!” With a satisfactory catch we all started walking back to the vehicle, where all the tagging equipment is. Kristine was walking near Adam and I was walking ahead with Christina. Then Christina and I hear from Adam, “Kristine, what are you doing?!” Then we hear Kristine, “What’s wrong with you?” We turn around to see Adam. His jacket is on the ground. He lifts the back of his shirt and a bat flies out! We all died laughing.

Watch Out For the Black Mambas

Originally distributed March 2009

I can’t tell you how many times I heard that before I left for Swaziland, especially from one particular uncle. Well, hold onto your hats. You won’t believe what I’ve been doing lately. Basically, I’ve been radio tracking black mambas for the past 7 weeks.

I didn’t know I would be tracking black mambas when I interviewed for or accepted the job. I did find out before I left for Swaziland though and decided that was one little tidbit of info I’d keep to myself…until after the project was over and I was still alive and well to tell about it. Many of you are worrying enough as it is. You didn’t need to know I was purposely following and approaching one of the deadliest snakes in the world.

In Swaziland they grow lots of sugar cane. The sugar cane attracts rodents and the rodents attract snakes. The snakes are dangerous to the people who have to work in the sugar cane fields. So there’s a couple in Swaziland who dedicate part of their time to responding to calls about venomous snakes in their homes, schools, sugar cane fields, etc. They capture the snakes and provide them refuge. Over time they began to wonder what would happen if they were to re-release the snakes in protected areas, like nature reserves. Would the snakes stay there and make themselves at home, or would they leave and try to return to their previous territories? To find out they partnered with animal tracking experts, namely the science director at All Out Africa, and snake biologists to release several snakes in a particular park and follow them around to find out where they would go.

Generally, very little is known about black mambas, but I can happily confirm firsthand now that they are not aggressive snakes. If they were, I would’ve been bitten a long time ago, because sometimes we approached to within striking distance of the snakes. Not on purpose, mind you.

Roughly 10 snakes were used in the study. Several were resident to the area either within or surrounding Nisela Nature Reserve, where the study took place. The rest were captured from many km away and translocated to Nisela. A veterinarian operated on them to insert the radio transmitters. After a couple days of recuperation the snakes were released and our work began.

At first the snakes didn’t move much. Some would move 50-100m in a day but that was it. We figure they were still healing from surgery. But once they were well again, some of them started trekking around the park.

We used two types of transmitters, because each researcher brought their own to the project. Unfortunately, within 10 days of release one set of transmitters failed and we lost track of all 5 of those snakes. So for the last 6wks we were only following 5 snakes. During that time, 3 of the 5 shed and we actually saw one slithering around in a bush with skin coming off. I disturbed one while it was eating a rat—total accident as I didn’t know exactly where the snake was until it was thrashing around in the grass regurgitating the rat because I was standing so close to it at the time. We also followed one from one end of the park to the other as it headed toward the housing area and later had to be recaptured and released because it perched itself on the roof of one of the beehive huts, where park visitors stay.

The snake that I disturbed had a sad demise. It had originally been captured near some rat cages at the park, where they breed rats to feed to their captive snake collection. When we released it we put it back in the same general area. Eventually, it returned to the rat cage area. The rat I saw it eating was an escapee though, the snake had not gotten it from the cage. But one day the snake was too tempted. It slithered in to one of the cages and killed several rats. The survivors, however, got revenge and killed the mamba. They bit it to death, and once it was dead they bit most of its head off. Gruesome indeed.

I’m sure you have lots of questions so I’ll do my best to answer them when I return from the field in two weeks. We’re now tracking bats though and we do it from a vehicle so it’s very tame. Yes, we had a few close calls while tracking the snakes. We were mandated to try to spot the snakes as often as possible so that meant we had to approach them pretty closely. At times we were practically on top of them. We often had to go through tall grass to get to where they were and that was hair-raising. One time we had a snake strike at us but it was at least 10ft away at the time and it didn’t strike in our direction. The snake felt our vibrations as we approached so it rose up and struck behind it, while we were actually to the side. But it was still scary. My partner, Mduduzi, had just spotted it in the grass and was pointing it out to me. That’s when it rose up and struck. I was very grateful for his extraordinary ability to spot snakes at such distances. I managed to spot several snakes during our tracking as well. It was cool to consciously experience how you can develop a search image.

Mduduzi and I never captured any of the mambas ourselves. Several staff at the snake park have special training to capture and handle them. But I did hold the body of one once while the snake park staff held its head to administer medicine in its mouth for an injury it had. So yes, I have held a black mamba, though not entirely by myself.

You’ll probably hear more about this project later in the year. But for now, you’ll be hearing about my work with more benign creatures—bats, storks and possibly vultures.

I’m an Alien, But I’m Not an Idiot!

Originally distributed February 2009

The song by Sting that goes, “I’m an alien. I’m a legal alien…” has been in my head the past few days. Here’s why. In Swaziland visitors get 30 day visas when they enter the country. When I interviewed for this job the director and I discussed the visa issue. He said Swaziland issues work visas but they’re complicated to apply for and can take up to a year to get. Well, with the prospect of a 1yr position, it was entirely plausible then that they could apply for a work visa on my behalf when I arrived here and I still wouldn’t have it by the end of the year. In that light, the recommendation was to just get a new 30 day visa every month. They’ve had lots of 1yr contract staff who have done that.

With the opportunity to go to Kruger with new volunteers every month that’s a piece of cake. Every month I’d naturally leave the country and get a new visa when I reentered. In fact, in January, after less than 2 weeks in Swaziland I was already leaving the country for my first visit to Kruger. That’s where the lion charge took place.

Since returning from Kruger, we’ve been working in one of the Swazi game reserves tracking wildlife, and I’ve kept in mind that sometime in late February I’d need to cross the border briefly to get a new 30 day visa. That time would be this past weekend. So back at the lodge on Saturday I pulled out my passport to see the date of my last Swazi entry stamp. They’re all jumbled on the 1^st 2 pages and some are hard to read. So I searched and searched for the one that was somewhere around January 23^rd. The latest one I could find was January 16^th. But, how could that be? As I racked my brain I came to a terrible conclusion. We had gotten back from Kruger on the 16^th and spent several days back at the lodge before going to the game reserve for tracking work on the 23rd. Uh oh….

Saturday night I saw my coworker Roland, who’s one of the head staff and a local Swazi, at a party and I told him my predicament. He said, “What you should do is go to the border tomorrow. They probably won’t even look at it, they’ll just stamp it. If you run into any problems give me a call.”

Sunday morning I found out a 3 month volunteer also had an expired visa. She said she’d go with me. The lodge manager, who has the same issue I do and has been crossing the border for a new visa every month since last March, suggested that we bring disguises. Nothing major, just hats and plain clothes, so we wouldn’t be so noticeable going and coming back within a short period. She also suggested we hang out at the nearby gas station for a ½ hr or so in South Africa before coming back through so it wouldn’t be so obvious that we were just leaving to renew our visas. Clearly, unlike some other countries, they don’t have a rule that you have to be out of the country for a minimum amount of time before reentering. In Costa Rica, for example, you have to be out of the country for 72hrs before reentering but apparently not in Swaziland.

Sunday afternoon we headed out and got to the border in about 45min (Swaziland is a very small country). We got to the counter and handed the guy our passports. He opened mine up, scanned the ID page with a machine, typed in some info and stamped it. Whew! One down, one to go! He opened the other passport, scanned it and typed in some info. Then he said, “You’ve overstayed. Why have you overstayed?” I told him we had lost track of time, which is entirely true. I had incorrectly remembered when I had reentered the country from the Kruger trip. But this was not reason enough to let us go. He told us this was an offense and to follow him behind the counter and into a back room. Great…..

A woman came in and he went back out to the counter. The three of us sat down. She asked why we overstayed and why we were there. Now we had to lie. We told her we were tourists. We borrowed a friend’s car, which was true, and we were headed to Jo’burg and Pretoria for a while, which was not true. Long story short, she could’ve fined us each about $50 but instead gave us a warning. I was relieved until I heard the warning. Upon our return to Swaziland we would only get a 2 day visa. Ok, not good. Not good at all! She led us back out to the counter, stamped our passports and wrote in them “final warning.” Great, just great!

So we left the Swazi border post all freaked out and went to the South Africa post. We got our passport entry stamps there with no problem because they automatically issue 90 day multiple entry visas. Outside the border post we looked for the gas station where we were advised to hang out and couldn’t find it anywhere. We drove about 15 miles into South Africa and there was nothing but a few homesteads sprinkled around. On top of that, once in South Africa we lost our cell phone service. Great!

We had nothing with us—no overnight bags, no food, no map of South Africa and now no cell phones. We turned around and drove back toward the border. Once within range again we called the lodge manager and told her what happened. She called Roland and told him to call us. Outside the US some countries only deduct credit when you make calls or send texts, you don’t lose any credit when receiving calls or texts. But they charge a hefty rate for the calls you do make. So it wasn’t a good idea for us to start making a ton of phone calls.

At the South African border there was nothing there. So I parked in a dirt parking lot behind a row of produce vendors, and there we waited and contemplated our fate. My friend was in trouble but her situation was not as bad as mine. They offer 60 day visa extensions, which are easier to get than temporary residence visas, but you can only get them once. So if you get a visa extension you can’t just leave the country at the end of 60 days and get a new 30 day visa. Once you get an extension you have to leave for at least 6 months (see, here they have a set minimum!) before you can come back. So that would work for her, but it wouldn’t work for me. Plus, now that I had “final warning” tattooed on my passport I would probably get hassled every time I tried to get a new visa. So I was really worried.

A while later, Roland called and told us to go back across the border and get the 2 day visas. We would sort it out first thing Monday morning. He was already making phone calls to Senators and immigration people he knew (his family is well known and well connected). Ok, but we told this woman we were going to Jo’burg, so how are we supposed to show up without an explanation? He told us to tell her that we talked to our friend and he advised us that this is something to be concerned about and we should come back right away to straighten it out. Ok, makes sense. And it’s the truth, yay!

Bolstered with moderate confidence, we went back through the border post and got our stamps in Swaziland. The guy who processed us didn’t ask or say anything. Thank goodness! We were so relieved to be back in Swaziland. Swaziland is familiar. Swaziland is pretty safe. Swaziland is where all our stuff is and we have beds to sleep in and we know how to get there! I really can’t overstate how relieved I was to be back on the other side again.

Quickly wrapping up, Roland took our passports to Immigration first thing Mon morning and got us 30 day visas. Otherwise, I would be back in South Africa right now. He applied for a visa extension for my friend and I’ve spent the past two days amassing documents and materials for a temporary resident permit with help and support from various people, chief among them being my parents.

To end on a lighter note, one of the things I had to get was a medical certificate. The form says, “I hereby certify that I [a dr.] have examined _Elaine Franklin_ and find that she is not mentally or physically defective in any way, that she is not an idiot, epileptic, insane, mentally deficient, deaf and dumb…” So now, folks, despite this recent blunder I have a certificate signed and stamped proving that I am not an idiot!

Don’t Count Your Chickens Before They Hatch

There are some sayings that fit life in Africa so well it wouldn’t surprise me if they originated here. “Don’t count your chickens before they hatch” comes to mind because of potential up-coming work opportunities. But as with so many things in life, especially in business and start-ups, don’t get too excited about something that hasn’t transpired yet.

First, I am relieved and delighted to say that, since July, things have finally been working out in my favor. That was my first break-through. I can pretty comfortably say that from January up until then I was encountering huge obstacles, hindrances, delays, etc. It was really wearing me down. In fact, when I was visiting the US in August I was constantly mentally exhausted. I was sincerely astonished when people told me “You look great!” I thought, “Seriously? Because I haven’t felt great for most of this year. So that’s truly amazing.”

People have approached me about doing environmental activities for their kids’ birthday parties or with their visiting volunteer groups, but nothing materialized. So, for future unknowns I use the word “potential” because, until it has actually happened, it only has potential to be great. One of those exciting potential opportunities is leading birding trips at Maguga Dam in Northwestern Swaziland. A reservoir has been created in one of the most beautiful parts of the country that has been stocked with fish for fishing, and a lodge has been built on the slopes to accommodate travelers and vacationers. The lodge staff have chosen me to lead birding trips for their guests. One of the benefits is that I got to stay at the lodge for 2 nights and watch birds to my heart’s content on land and on the reservoir on their boat. It was a great, relaxing trip and I hope birders will come to enjoy the same experience.

For the birding crowd I tallied 83 species over 2 days, 68 species the first day and an additional 15 the second with about 50 species tallied while on the boat. Highlights included the striking male Scarlet-chested Sunbird (click and scroll), a Gymnogene (renamed African Harrier-Hawk) and a pair of Barn Owls perched under one of the dam structures. I heard the Gorgeous Bush-shrike and Emerald Cuckoo, but sightings still elude me. Sometime when I have time to hunt them down though, I’ll see them.

While resting at the cottages, a very active pair of Red-winged Starlings was busy collecting big, fat, black millipedes to feed to their chicks. These millipedes are about as fat as your thumb and at least the length of your hand. So one is quite a meal, and quite large, which means the parents had to do a lot of beating and flailing of the millipedes on a hard surface to break them into bite-sized chunks. They’d take a chunk to their chicks leaving the rest on the stone steps or some concrete structure they used. Occasionally they’d remember that there was some left and come back for it. But more often than not they would forget and just go find another one. So that explains some of the dead millipedes lying around in pieces.

In addition to the potential birding guide work, I was contacted by a local non-profit that teaches life skills to orphaned and vulnerable children. They have asked me to lead some hikes and environmental activities for their group of teens in December. I had been tormented for months about putting together a nature camp in December, mainly because overnight camps are more appealing than the day camps I ran last year. This means I’d need to either find friends/acquaintances who’d be willing and able to help for free, in exchange for a fun and free experience while assisting and supervising the kids, or hire a couple of people to assist with the camp. So this opportunity with the Moya Center has been a real blessing. I am so relieved to have that sorted out, assuming nothing derails the plan of course.

So, the fact that in Africa you really can’t plan on anything and you can’t assume that something will happen just because you’ve set things in motion for it to unfold might explain some of the strange experiences I’ve had with other people. For example, I have known people working in particular places and suddenly they’re gone. I find out through others that they’ve left. They had opportunities to tell me they were going to leave, but they never did. Or they may have hinted but never said anything concrete like,“March 26^th will be my last day here.” Maybe it’s because you just don’t talk about something until it has really happened. Until then, who knows! It’s just talk. So, don’t count your chickens before they hatch. And encourage your chickens to lay lots of eggs!

Swazi Reverse Part 2 of 2

Originally distributed February 2009

My next big driving adventure took place in Nisela Game Reserve, where we’re currently working for the month of February and maybe into March. It had been hot, dry and dusty our 1^st few days there. But one afternoon we got a big thunderstorm that cooled things down dramatically. It continued raining lightly all night, so in the morning everything was adequately soaked. Mduduzi, my field assistant who usually does the driving, was not in the mood to drive so early in the morning after having a few drinks with friends the night before. Thanks, man! As much as I was not excited to drive on those roads I figured maybe better me than him! So off we went – Simone, Mdu, me and 3 other people who were helping with the field work that day. It felt like I was driving on ice and snow. You make a turn and the kombi doesn’t turn, it just slides. So I took it very slowly and we slid here and there, nearly crashing into barbed wire fences, trying not to slide into gullies and topple over. It was quite exciting. And once again the steering wheel was spinning left and right like it had a mind of its own. Somehow I managed not to crash or get stuck once. I was praised for my driving skills. I think Simone was most impressed, having seen my quick evolution as a Swazi kombi driver.

After our first stop, Mdu took over the wheel. Either his hangover had warn off or he was tired of me driving so slowly. So off we went and a few times we really went off! Right off the road. Spun perpendicular to the road once. Had to push the kombi 4-5 times before we finally got back to the campsite.

We continued to have intermittent rain showers over the next few days. So just as the roads had dried out enough to drive on, they’d turn to slick mud again. Luckily, the reserve managers, Clifton and Tia, have a couple of 4 wheel ATV’s (they call them quad bikes here) and said we could take those to our research sites. So one day, Mdu, Simone, one of the reserve staff named Pilani, and I went out on those. That was fun! They can handle the mud slicks and large puddles. Never mind that you get a mud bath at the same time. The only thing about one of the quad bikes is that Reverse doesn’t work on it. So you have to pull it backwards until it’s in a position to go forward. Pilani was calling this “Swazi reverse.”

This past week, Tuesday, Clifton and Tia had to go back to Simunye in the northeast where they own and manage a country club. They took the quad bikes with them because they needed to be serviced. Of course the rains came again. This time we didn’t have as many people to push the kombi when it was certain to get stuck. So we talked with the reserve staff and they arranged for one of the game drivers to drive us in their Land Cruiser, which they use for game watching drives. The only hitch with the land cruiser is that the starter was broken so it had to be kick started.

Wednesday morning, Mbazo, the game driver, tied a rope between the kombi and the cruiser and Mdu towed the cruiser until Mbazo was able to start it. Then off we went. At one of our research sites Mbazo decided to park the cruiser on a “hill” and turn it off, because we were going to be there at least an hour. When we were ready to go Mdu, Pilani and I got behind the cruiser and pushed. Unfortunately, Mbazo didn’t wait until we had enough momentum before he tried to start it. So it lurched to a halt. Now, this “hill” he was parked on wasn’t much of a hill at all. In the lowveld you’re hard pressed to find any real hills. This hill was really just a mound of dirt created when some animal dug a tunnel. So there we were completely stopped on flat ground. Oh well. So we gave it our best effort to push it into motion again. We got it rolling, but once again not fast enough before over-eager Mbazo tried to start the engine.

Plan B was to walk back several miles to the camp site and get the kombi. The comedy here was that the kombi was 1) supposed to make it to where the cruiser was and 2) pull the cruiser through the mud until it was going fast enough to start. Yeah, right! This is gonna work! But we tried it anyway. Of course the kombi got stuck 2-3 times just getting to the cruiser. So we had to push it to get it unstuck. Then we got to the cruiser, tied them together, and Pilani and I pushed the cruiser while Mdu and Mbazo drove the cars. By a miracle it actually worked! Woo hoo! So we headed back and called it a morning. I’m getting a workout in the field after all, and mud facials at the same time.

Swazi Reverse Part 1 of 2

Originally distributed February 2009

Once again, lots of stories and not enough time to tell them all. I’ve picked up a new skill though. I can now drive a stick shift on the left side of the road, which requires shifting with the left hand. It wasn’t as hard to get used to as I thought. What has made it more of an achievement is the fact that I haven’t been driving a small easy-to-maneuver car. No. It’s been a 14 seat van….on the crappiest, most beat up, slick, muddy roads. With trees, wildlife and barbed wire fences to contend with. Now that’s driving!

When I found out I would be driving in Swaziland, a stick shift van on top of it, I was apprehensive. As usual, instead of a gradual build up (drive an automatic on the left to reacquaint myself with the other side of the road) I was thrown into the deep end. One day in Lobamba, where my home base is, I was told to drive my volunteer, Simone, in the van (called a kombi here) to a nearby nature reserve where we would chase reptiles around all morning.

Before we left, one of the local guys named Sifiso, who leads a bunch of volunteers in community improvement projects, asked if I would give him a ride to his project site, which was on the way to the reserve. I said sure. I still had to gather some equipment before we set off. When I returned to the kombi there were about 14 people standing around waiting for a ride! “Holy s@#t!” I exclaimed. I’m not driving all those people down this beat up sloping driveway the first time I ever drive this vehicle. So I handed the keys to Sifiso and insisted that he drive to the project site and that I’d take over from there.

It was a good decision because we needed gas and I wouldn’t have been in a state of mind to even notice that the gauge was solidly on E. So Sifiso took us all to get gas and then we were on our way. Once at the project site I took over. I’m sure Simone was peeing her pants, as I had been very open with my apprehension about driving in Swaziland. But she was outwardly calm and I did fine. Never stalled, didn’t have any trouble handling the kombi. I was relieved.

Getting it back up the driveway was like handling a bucking bronco. The driveway is so torn up you bounce around a lot and the steering wheel goes flying left and right. You have to just take it slow and let it do its thing, as long as that doesn’t include crashing into the fence or a parked car. So we made it safely and I started breathing again.

Too Close For Comfort

Originally distributed January 2009

Did I mention before that we were busy for 18-19hrs/day everyday for 2 weeks? That means there are more stories than I have time to write or you have time to read. But here’s another must share.

After Mlawula we drove up to South Africa and spent 3 days in Kruger National Park. Amazing place! Wildlife galore, everywhere! Just driving from the entrance gate to our campsite, which was a long drive in itself, we saw tons of animals—giraffes, zebras, the usual antelope species, baboons, vervet monkeys, ostriches, elephants, hippos, rhinos, lions. They offer game drives and game walks there. These rangers carry rifles, loaded, with a hip belt full of additional ammo. Brass bullets. They don’t mess around. On our last day there I did a game walk with 7 other people from the group. By this time several of them were tired of elephants. I never get tired of elephants. I could watch them all day. But that’s me. Some of these younger folks have ADD and think real life should be like a 1hr Animal Planet show. So they were over elephants by this time and wanted to see predators.

It turned out to be their lucky day. Within the 1^st 15min we found 2 cheetahs. One was perched conspicuously on a log and the other was clawing a tree stump. They were having a face-off with a herd of zebras that were only about 30yds away. Then the zebras trotted off and the cheetahs followed. They weren’t hungry though because they had just eaten a young impala. We knew because some vultures took off from the area upon our approach which led us to the remaining 3 legs and half a jaw from the impala. From there we started tracking a lone bull elephant. But on the way we heard a lion calling. So we debated whether to forget the elephant, because of the ADD kids, or approach the elephant since we already knew where it was. Long story short, after approaching the elephant part-way we changed course and headed for the lions.

When you go on a game walk, before you go anywhere the rangers explain how things are done to keep you safe. Hand signals, commands, “don’t run,” etc. You always go out with 2 rangers and both are armed. As we approached the lions the lead ranger told us, “If I signal to get down, get way down, right away. Pay attention.” We got to within about 40yds of the lions and he signaled for us to crouch down. The lions noticed us and started growling. Great. Then he said, “If I tell you to scream, scream. If I tell you to stand up, stand up slowly and don’t turn away.” He cocked his rifle. So there we were crouched down with the lions growling at us and he’s saying, “Take pictures, take pictures, take pictures.” I was behind several people and couldn’t even see the lions. I thought, “Geez, if I’m going to die for being too close to these lions I at least want to see them. That’s why I’m risking my life out here after all.” So I got up a few inches and leaned around and saw two lionesses growling ferociously at us. My heart was pounding, of course. Meanwhile, one of the women behind me was snapping away with her professional camera.

Then he told us to stand up slowly. At that point I saw one of the lionesses start to lunge in our direction then immediately change course and run in the other direction. They disappeared from sight. We slowly backed away several steps, still facing their direction. Then the other ranger led us farther away to where we could relax a little. There, the lead ranger told us where the lions had moved to. There was a male with the females, but I couldn’t see him from my vantage point. Once we had moved away the lions split up and moved too. The male was watching us and flicking his tail in agitation. After a minute or two there we moved farther away to a safe distance. Whew!

I really don’t need that kind of excitement. During game drives we encountered several male lions and a pride of females with a juvenile male, all on the road and we were in the safety of our vehicle. That’s enough for me. Being out there on foot and knowing they were there…that’s enough for me. I’m good with that. Seeing giraffes up close on foot was cool. They’re not scary or dangerous. But I don’t need to get face to face with lions even though I did.

It turns out my head was partly in one of the lady’s shots. She was frustrated about it. I told her, “Send it to my parents.” It turns out the ranger wants that picture because it’s good advertising, showing how close you can get to the animals. So it all worked out….and we survived to tell the tale. And here’s the picture!

By the way, how many lions do you see in this picture? Look carefully!