Creatures Great and Small
Eating, chilling, or having a ball
The above picture was always on a wall in my parental home, and after we kids moved out, it moved with them to all the places where they lived afterward. Perhaps it set the tone for our own love of nature, of wildlife.
Let’s fast forward some years. Who am I kidding, let’s fast forward quite a few decades, and from South Africa to Zambia. A country that is blessed with really great National Parks. One of these, the South Luangwa National Park, has a high density of cats, including leopards.
A few years ago, taking advantage of a “Covid special” that allowed us cheaper than usual flights and accommodation, we’d also visited the Park, and were rewarded by some grand and close-up views of wildlife. This included an adult male lion, resting on the sandy bank of the Luangwa River.
I couldn’t write a wildlife story from Africa without showing at least one lion, you must agree. But just to increase the cuteness coefficient of this story, here’s an image of some vervet monkeys:
Warthogs also appear quite cute, at least from a distance. Closer up, not so much.
Rather than continue with a catalogue of other animals seen in South Luangwa, let’s switch our focus to the massive Kafue National Park, some four hours drive to the West of Lusaka, the capital of Zambia.
We are lucky enough to be able to visit the Kasabushi Lodge and campsite relatively often. Located in the central part of the Park, on the banks of the Kafue River, it’s owned and operated by our son Quintin and his wife Tessa. Places like these are not fenced and that means that you are quite careful when you wander about, for instance when going on your nightly trip from the rooftop tent to the toilets. Much earlier this year, Quintin surprised a leopard that was also on foot in the campsite, during exactly such a trip. Apparently a pretty tense few moments, maybe more so for Quintin than for the cat.
Located on the western bank of the rather large river, one often hears the grunts of hippos in the water. These large animals appear slow, sluggish and perhaps stupid. While there might well be stupid individuals, slow and sluggish they are not. (I talk from experience, having had a hippo charge us while in a canoe in another park. But that’s another story.) Hippos are said to be the most dangerous animals in Africa, responsible for a large number of human deaths. Hippos don’t really swim, they live in shallow water, which is also where fishermen ply their trade and where women do their washing or fetch water. At night, they venture onto land, to graze. This is also a situation where humans should not get too close, and certainly not get between the hippo and the water. They have really massive teeth, and these are not for eating, they are weapons.
The name “hippopotamus” is derived from the ancient Greek words for “river horse”. I get the river part, but ancient Greek horses must have been very different from today’s variety.
Not every animal is dangerous, though. There are quite a few antelopes that wander through the campsite and the lodge area, grazing on the grass with only a sidelong glance at us humans.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834), in Part 7 of the stupendously long Rime of the Ancient Mariner, wrote that
He prayeth best who loveth best; All things both great and small; For the dear God who loveth us; He made and loveth all.
And so, let’s also look at some smaller creatures.
I am inclined to agree with Coleridge, I love small animals too. Even spiders, if they keep their distance. As for mosquitoes and tse-tse flies, that’s where I draw the line.
I’ve already written here on Medium about encountering a snake in a shower, just look up my story on “Shower Views”.
Anyway, this is not a National Geographic article, it’s a post about wildlife. So it seems fitting to end it with an image of the most dangerous animals on the planet, doing what they do best in a crocodile-free section of the Kafue River.
That picture completely fits into the theme of this month’s challenge — you cannot argue with the fact that we are living a pretty wild life :).
And just to bring my story full circle, my father’s black-and-white picture of elephants is now proudly displayed by our son, on the wall of the dining area at Kasabushi, and enjoying a beautiful view over the Kafue River.
It’s difficult to craft an interesting story about wildlife, but the following stories on that topic are just so interesting, highly recommended. Tim Ward, Mature Flâneur writes about albatrosses (and a hopeful story about their conservation) in New Zealand:
And do yourself a favour to read the following story by Joel R. Dennstedt and to enjoy the most fantastic photographs!
George J. Ziogas has written a very interesting story about urban wildlife, with lessons for us all:
