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| Ranger's reflection
I have just concluded my 500th professional safari in the Kruger National Park, South Africa. The 500 professional safaris are but a small reflection of the times I have spent in the bush - 1965, a as toddler and free to love and learn about the wonders of nature represents the first year I set foot inside the borders of this great reserve. 1984 to 1999 were the learning years - every free moment of my life was spent trying to uncover more of her wisdom, her secrets and her wonders, and then finally in 1999 I took the decision to turn my passion into my business. Many people have asked me if I ever get tired or bored in the bush. The answer is simply NO, I don't - here are some of the reasons I could never feel anything other than awe-inspiring joy and excitement at being in the bush with my guests, learning the lessons life has on offer. The first most significant experience I have every time I walk or drive through the African bush is that this place is home to all of us, we've changed and imposed changes on her but through our lives as people - we've never managed to loose the deep understanding we have of the power, beauty, serenity and wholeness that an African dawn, day or evening shares with us Sometimes it just takes a little while for the sights, sounds and smells to reinforce their dominance on our barely used senses. I watch my guests as they redevelop a set of sharp and alert senses - from not hearing the sounds to questioning the sounds and finally to processing the sounds as all the other inhabitants of the Kruger do. The journey always begins with huge amount excitement and expectation, then hones itself into an adventure of discovery where basic biology and some of the fundamental sciences that have allowed us to understand our lives better begin to play out their hypothesis in a very realistic and practical way. The Kruger allows us to see communication between animals, to listen to the calls of life, either in distress, or in dominance displays, or as mating calls - even the soft noises between mothers and their children are all on show in the Kruger. Coupled with the noises of the night are the signs left on the ground, and at first light - when we go exploring, we see where the animals have walked, were they have browsed or grazed, where they settled for the night, or prowled through the undergrow. Our first drive or walk through the bush is about interpreting signs left in the form of footprints or faeces...Now the noises and the footprints are forming a story and just as we begin this jigsaw puzzle, a rustle in the bush, a distant shape or quick movement quickly focuses our eyes, and in an instant there it is - a giraffe, or a lion, or an elephant or a herd of impalas - going about their business, and that business is survival - like all of us, an ongoing resource using available energy to adapt and develop tools for continued survival - a circle of life! After that first drive or walk we are suddenly all truly aware of our position, of our part and our presence within this circle of life, and then we want more we suddenly want to know more, to understand more, to see more and to feel more of this wonderful opportunity to go back home, to the place our ancestors were born and lived, to the place we've shared with all other life from the first days of our arrival on this planet. The heat of an African day is set aside for reflection - or forty winks - but rest and rumination are the order of the day under the relentless African sun, there is always plenty to keep our senses occupied, the songs of birds and chirping of insects, busy little mammals scurrying around. Especially the squirrels and mongoose, and of course, the sometimes daily trek to water by some of the other animals. All in all a great time to digest the mornings events. Neil's reflections When I look at the bush, especially at the trees, I think about the controversies surrounding elephant impact in the Kruger. The debate sometimes revolves around how many trees the elephants are destroying in a confined space albeit a space the size of Israel! Sometimes the debate includes us as catalysts of the over utilisation of our plants. Non the less, it is a serious issue - plants, especially woody plants, are being uprooted or debarked by elephants in the Kruger - outside of protected areas they are being destroyed by humans. Perhaps we should look at the reasons, and not simply appropriate blame onto the outcome. Throughout our lives both elephants and man have used plants as a primary source of medicine. Our trees hold their medicinal supplies in their roots and in their bark - harvesting a tree for its root will kill it! Take quinine, an alkaloid obtained from the bark of a quinine tree. Even aspirin, morphine, codeine are all plant-derived medicines. These medicines have served us well, and are deeply rooted in our traditions. I believe that elephants use trees (especially the roots and bark) for the same reasons we do. Medicine, and tonics or supplements in times of poor nutrition or hardship or increased competition - just like we do - the more processed food we eat, the more supplements in the form of minerals and vitamins we need. The Kruger was never a place for elephants to hang around - they moved through it during the good times (wet times) selecting different grasses to eat, and the odd tree or soily place to obtain addition minerals or medicines - leaving mud holes to collect water for other animals, or even opening up the bush as they moved through it so that other, smaller browsers could feed on smaller new growing trees. Now elephants are restricted to this Kruger - their impact is growing - so is our's in the places we are restricted to. One of the most remarkable trees in the Kruger is the baobab tree. Adansonia Digitata, the tree of life to many African people - and as portrait in the Lion King, a veritable source of food and drink for animals and a rich provider of citric and tartaric acid. A sure thing when it comes to treating diarrhoea and fever, even the bark of the baobab has been sold commercially in Europe under the name "cortex cael cedra" but mostly traditional…I imagine elephants eating the bark of this tree as a tonic during long, hard summers - not to mention drying up the gut a bit when the going gets a little sloppy. Elephant moms teach their children what to eat, and when just like we do - grandma's solutions and remedies are always recorded. As the day cools, and the activity increases, we move out - another safari or journey through this passage of time called a day. We may pick up on the morning news and follow through with some of tracking, or simply drive to the closest water because we know how important water is - whatever our decision we are soon back in the middle of an awesome adventure, that daily event called survival. We could be looking at vultures circling over an a fresh kill, or simply catching the hot air currents to lift into better viewing positions, we could be watching sleeping lions or a herd of buffalo on the move, we could be watching a kudu or giraffe browse on acacia thorns, or busy weavers building nests. It really doesn't matter because, without evoking or displacing behaviour, without causing stress or other actions from what's going on around us. As the sun sets and night gets ready to bring on a different set of stimuli we are slowly introduced to amazing and distant set of lights - the southern skies, a planet within our own solar system or a star from a distant galaxy. With the stars, the fire and the smells of a dinner cooking we embark on yet another journey - one filled with tales and legends and folklore from our ancestors - filled with inspiration and hope, and then perhaps joined by the close by roar of a lion, or the mournful whoop of a hyena - the sharp shriek of a barn owl and even our own voices intently trying to grasp the bigness of it all... And so a day passes I've spent my day listen to the bush speak, I've tried to interpret signs, piece together exciting jigsaw puzzles from messages sent to my senses, I've explored the universe, understood a little more about my heritage and ancestors, I've seen wild animals going about their business and I've understood that the bush is more than simply an outdoor place, it's a pharmacy, a fruit and veg shop, a home and a spiritual place of note. Perhaps I should get bored or tired of all of this but you know tomorrow I have a completely new day ahead of me, a new set of friends and a thousand new lessons to learn. Perhaps after tomorrow I'll rethink what I do for a living. Neil Heron The Bearded Heron |
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