On Saturday, my hosts Cathy and Joe Wanzala wanted to say goodbye to their friends, George and Jackie, who are moving back to Tanzania. We drove a while and turned into the official Botswana wildlife training camp. Imagine how thrilled I was! Here was the place that trains and certifies the guides who go into the bush with tourists -- like the Harvard of wildlife training.
It turns out that George has been teaching there for 15 years! He appears very young to be an Obi Wan Kenobe (spelling??) type, but he clearly knows his stuff. Poor thing. I pestered him like a 2-year-old. And what have been your scrapes? What's the best part? What's the worst part? His specialties are wildlife resource management, mammals, radio contact from the bush and, best of all, "animal senses." He says he can teach pretty much anything about dealing with dangerous animals, but the two he doesn't like: snakes and cape buffalo. Cape buffalo are the most dangerous, he says. If one is running toward you, you better not run unless you can get quickly to a tree and climb it -- not any tree, a BIG tree. If that's not an option, lie flat on your stomach. The Cape Buffalo will try to scoop you up with his horns, but he can't get you. George says, "He may lick you and you will have scratches from that, and he may step on you and you will have a few broken bones, but you won't be dead."
He says lots of hunters succumb to the Cape Buffalo. They shoot a buffalo and follow the trail of blood. The buffalo is so cunning -- smart, he can hear, see AND smell -- he comes around in a circle and, before the hunter has a clue, gores the hunter from behind.
The buffalo, in a charge, "is the only animal that will weep if he misses you," George said.
Holy moly. I was in awe and won't be looking for any buffalo soon except from a safe distance. Meanwhile, the only dangerous animals I've encountered are donkeys, spiders and one friendly lizard in my bedroom the other night.
Today it's off to the big city for me -- Gaborone, Botswana's capital, known around here as Gabs.
cheers!
p.s. It's not that I don't have a camera. I've not got the hang of uploading the photos yet, and every minute counts in the internet cafes.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
A magical flower
The guide squeezes this flower and it squirts water like a water pistol
Cathy and Joe Wanzala
They couldn't wait to paste the Obama sticker on their car
My main man
Ernest is my trusty cab driver who blasts music as we make our way through Gabs
Ted Thomas, man of intrigue and style
My friend, Ted, and his wife, Mary Ann, hosted a Safari Send-Off for me in Austin and treated me to a special mix of African music that already a UB student and a professor want to download.
1 comment:
What those cape-buffalo hunters need is a trusty corgi!
Post a Comment