Ryan's Journal

"My life amounts to no more than one drop in a limitless ocean. Yet what is any ocean, but a multitude of drops?" — David Mitchell

End of the Journey

Posted from Johannesburg, South Africa at 8:56 pm, August 30th, 2014

There is a scene in Planet Earth that shows a wild dog hunt, and David Attenborough notes how rare it is to be able to see these endangered animals hunting. Today was my last game drive after a month on safari, and it was spent watching wild dogs hunting. Had I seen wild dogs hunting at the beginning of the safari I would not have appreciated how special a sight it was, but after all of the experiences in Africa, finishing the journey watching such a rare event was a perfect ending to an extraordinary adventure.

“Safari” is actually a Swahili word meaning “long journey”, so after 33 wonderful days of game drives my long journey has come to its end. 33 days ago I hardly knew the names of any animals here. Today I’m leaving knowing how to recognize several birds by their calls, how to watch impala to see if a predator is nearby, and what a cheetah’s behavior will be when hunting. I’ve seen a lion defending its kill from hyenas, thousands upon thousands of migrating wildebeest, leopards prowling a few feet from the vehicle, and dozens of other mind-blowing sights. “Luck” doesn’t seem to begin to describe how fortunate I’ve been, both during the trip and to have been given the opportunity to do a trip like this one.

Tomorrow starts a new phase of the trip, and I’ll be getting up early to catch a flight to Cape Town where I’ll meet Audrey and start the next portion of the odyssey. While the game drives are over, in a couple of days there will be sharks…

Wild dog in Timbavati Game Reserve

Wild dog (also called painted wolf) after dining on impala. We got to spend a good deal of time with them before and after their hunt, although the heavy brush and speed which they moved when hunting made pictures tough, so unfortunately I didn’t do a great job of capturing the experience.

1 response to “End of the Journey”

  1. Thank you for the descriptive posts, and the amazing photos and videos. Very much looking forward to seeing your shark encounters.

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