In Retirement, Delay Nothing, Especially Adventure

    Mala Mala friends

For the life of me, I can't recall why we delayed traveling to Africa. Perhaps because of the distance? Could be for it is far from the states. We took two overnight flights and one inter-country flight just to arrive within an hour's drive of the first camp. Diseases? Possibly for Ebola and Zika have been recent problems, though Zika is active in the states, too. Unrest? Yup, like the rest of the world issues exist with bombings and kidnappings, though mostly in Northern Africa with more petty crime in South Africa and elsewhere. But of course, these issues exist worldwide, too.

A year ago we traveled to Peru -- Lima, Cusco, the Sacred Valley, Machu Picchu, a really average trip in my book rather than to Africa and I can't recall why we selected Peru rather than Africa. Safety? Fear? Hmm.

What I do know is that I'm already scheming on how I can return next year, hopefully to Botswana and South Africa. Aspects of safari camp life, early morning game drives, toilet stops behind trees and bushes, things I thought would be off-putting, did not bother me. I found 6:30am drives peaceful, almost magical times, as the sun inched into the sky and some animals foraged about, others hunting for their first meal of the day. I found the chilly, at times cold, African winter mornings bracing and beautiful. There is nothing artificial about Africa. Ok, we did stay in really nice camps complete with a chef and staff, a bar, maid service and all. But the drives themselves, the viewing of animals, none of that was staged.

    African Wild Dogs off for their next meal

For instance, one morning when we set off on a pseudo Mr. Toads-Wild-Ride first through a dry river bed, then up the rocky river banks, plowing over various shrubs, the LandRover bumping crazily from side to side, I thought what fun as we tracked a pack of African Wild dogs as they zipped from feasting on their morning kill to their high speed search for their next meal.

While the experienced rangers and trackers have an idea where they might find wildlife, each day presented surprises, even to them. One morning we came upon an almost comical stand off between a young lioness and an enormous, disinterested rhinoceros, she seemingly thinking he might be breakfast and he, presumably, thinking her plan was just plain silly given their tremendous size differences. Once he stared her down, horn aimed at her head, she retreated, the stand off over.

    Cubs nursing

One late afternoon, we watched an aging lion rouse himself from his rest, lumber to the 
water hole for a long drink and then head back to finish off his partially eaten Cape Buffalo carcass only to find a pack of hyenas stripping the carcass bare. The lion roared, some hyenas scattered while others continued feeding.  As we quietly watched that day's installment of nature's best drama, our ranger whispered "This is very special to see." He was so right.

   Hyenas feeding on the lion's kill.

Then there was the afternoon when we pulled out of camp heading for the bush, when our ranger quickly did a u-turn and a bit breathlessly said "A leopard just killed an Impala close to camp." Moments later we were witnessing a young female leopard, plucking fur from her kill before she started biting into the Impala's hindquarters. We watched as she broke open
 the rib cage, pulled out the animal's intestines, ate her fill. She then began the exhausting process of dragging the kill, which was more than double the leopard's size, toward the protection of a tree for hiding from bush scavengers. Exhausted before she could safely tuck the carcass on an upper branch, she left it on the ground, had a rest....and eventually lost her precious kill to the opportunistic hyenas. Thus is life in the African bush.

   Leopard resting while moving her kill.

Don't delay adventure or anything in retirement. I'm so happy we did not delay visiting Africa any longer.

    Mala Mala's beautiful boma where we ate dinner.