“Except for the sound of the rain, on the road, on the roofs, on the umbrella, there was absolute silence: only the dying moan of the sirens continued for a moment or two to vibrate within the ear. It seemed to Scobie later that this was the ultimate border he had reached in happiness: being in darkness, alone, with the rain falling, without love or pity.”
― Graham Greene, The Heart of the Matter
Monday, February 10th. It started raining about 1 am. It has been raining continuously since that time. In Indiana I am used to squalls of rain storms coming through but we rarely see a continuous sustained rain. According to the weather it will stay like this for another day. There is a vast pool of water in front of our rondavel. Just beyond the perimeter fence there is a single baboon looking wet and miserable.
We have been very lucky on our journey so far. The weather has been hot, 100 degrees or more, but no rain. As we have shown we have had the chance to visit a lot of the southern area of the park and had some wonderful animal encounters. This is the shoulder time for the rainy season here so the fact we have gotten so little so far is fortunate. There is an area here in the camp where you can pitch tents. The poor souls are in pools of water so I have nothing to complain about.
We are in the middle of this enormous preserve. As I said on an earlier post, the internet is very sketchy here so by the time you read this post we will be headed south. The park sits in the Northeast section of the country. Just East of us is Mozambique. The park overlaps the border with that country and much of the poacher activity originates from that region, it is only a few miles away. To the North lies Zimbabwe which made headlines recently when its long time strong man, Robert Mugabe, finally stepped down in his 90’s only to be replaced by another dictator.
South Africa is about 1/3 bigger than the state of Texas. There is a lot of land here. The park is bigger than Yellowstone covering millions of square kilometers. It is not only a national treasure, but a world one as well. There is no other reserve in all of Africa that is as large and well maintained. Tens of thousands of animals roam free here. You are fenced off from them at the camps. Otherwise they will come right into the enclosure.
This is their land, not yours. It is not a zoo and, given the opportunity, there are predators here that will eat you. I cannot imagine what the first European visitors must of thought of this place when they arrived. It must have been a very real Jurassic Park to them.
More on the European incursion later.
For now the rain continues to be heavy and is supposed to let up tomorrow.
The next day -
It did not let up. I have concluded with the strong winds and sheets of rain that the band Toto was wrong. I will not miss the rains down in Africa. Perhaps tomorrow it will clear. We have traveled further North in the park and even closer to Mozambique. We are in a camp on the edge of the Olifant River. It is swollen with rain water and looks exactly like you would imagine a wild river in Africa would look. Here are some pictures below.
Along the way in the rain we saw Elephants washed clean and looking like a new car on the roads. We also saw some enormous African Storks perched precariously on long spindly legs up in trees trying not to fall over in the wind. The Wildebeest, Zebra, and Impala are all huddled under trees trying to stay dry.
The Baboons are complaining loudly and smoking cigarettes. It’s what they do.
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