Our South African ranger guide, Mo, pointed to a group of antelopes, some of which were prancing with their feet held together, so that they bounced high, as if on pogo sticks. “They are pronking,” he explained.
“What is that?” asked a lady in our Range Rover. “Why do they do that?”
“It’s just an expression of joy,” said Mo. “They are just playing.”
Funny, I remember the wildlife documentaries I watched on TV as a kid as dry and analytical, laced with scientific jargon based on Darwinian theory, all about natural selection and the struggle to survive. That aspect was real out in the bush, but there was so much more that was missing from the documentaries. The joy! Animals having fun! The beauty and rapture of nature.
The scientific viewpoint is supposed to remain detached, not affected by emotion. That’s appropriate for scientific research. But when it commands the narrative of a cinematic presentation of the wilderness on that little screen, it misses a lot. The ecstasy, the splendor! Love! You see the tenderest love among the predators. Even though there are predators, and a struggle for survival, there is so much more when you experience it in person.
Even when the predators are closing in on a herd of zebra, wildebeests or antelopes, the animals maintain such amazing poise that it’s awe-inspiring. If I could be that composed in the presence of death, I would be a much greater human than I am.
Metanoia: A Change of Consciousness
A safari can change your fundamental world view. It certainly did mine. I can’t imagine that it doesn’t have the same effect on most others who experience it for the first time. More than any other travel experience I can think of, going on safari palpably shifted the foundations of my existence.
The word “metanoia,” defined as a change of mind, is historically associated with religious conversion. But it seems appropriate here. The wilderness is where adventure merges with spirituality.
I recently returned from South Africa and the latest of many safaris I’ve taken, and I can’t say if the change I am talking about was gradual, or if it happened almost instantly. I think it was both. Some say you never forget the first time you fell in love. You never forget your first time, and so it was with me with safaris. That one pushed me through a transition to a wider world, and the change was irreversible.
Watching the interaction between the predators and their prey…
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