The Go-Away Bird

It was, as most safaris are, a peculiar gathering of travellers. Two amiable life-long friends from Australia, a young Brit whose tender age was veiled by his imposing stature, a gung-ho Canadian who seemed to have packed only the most meagre of traveling attire, and us: a pair of keen twenty-somethings with not a stitch of practical bush-wear between us. No, steel-tipped boots are no good for roaming through the Kruger Park veld.
Minutes into our first night-drive in search of the most elusive of the Big Five, the mighty Lion, our guide’s words of warning sunk in: DRESS WARMLY. Yes, everybody prepares you for a potential baboon attack, accidental tumbling from the open-air vehicle, or the discomfort of running out of bottled water. You’re never quite prepared for the chill in the middle of the South African desert. And so, we shivered & watched eagerly for the majestic creatures which grace the back of the country’s R50 note.
Half an hour ticked by. Just before giving up, a sudden rustling was heard in the dry bushes to our left. Cameras ready, our anxious group leaned forward in anticipation – some of us holding hands in fear. Without warning, it leapt from the bushes, landing softly in front of our car. I stifled a shriek, and glad I did too. Before us, scratching its ears neatly, sat a minute scrub hare, long-eared & bushy-tailed, in all its adorable glory. The groan from the 4x4 did not deter her, and as this was the only path on which our large vehicle could travel, we were at her mercy for a little while still, as she hopped nonchalantly ahead of us.
The good mood & the tenacity of our guides lasted the length of the trip from thereon. We whispered excitedly about the surrounding beauty on the early morning lion-search, and our rumbling vehicle did little to deter the elephants washing & watering themselves at a small pool. We were harassed by grey-feathered Loeries, while giraffes teased us as they loped alongside the vehicle, and we strained our eyes for rhinos who, despite their ridiculous size, could make themselves invisible in a nearly-empty field.
From the first moment, I was moved by the expansive beauty of a country I had never seen – MY country in which I’ve always lived. The South Africa of the travel guides & the beautiful clichés is as foreign & far-off as Asia. I bought trinkets from the smiling roadside sellers, posed goofily at the magnificent God’s Window, and clicked my camera as though born a world away. And, indeed, I had been.