A Visit From the Easter Hippo

Happy Easter!!! I'm writing this while trying to scrape all the soot from the fire pit out from under my nails, and realizing that some tasks are too hard to accomplish simultaneously! Instead of the usual Easter we're used to back home -they don't have egg hunts here in Namibia- my family and I used the holiday to travel up in the Caprivi region. Sure, there weren't any bunnies or baskets. But who needs them when you have crocs and hippos? 

It was a two day's drive into the "pan-handle" section of Namibia. On the second day, we got stuck while trying to get across a flooded section of road in our 2x4, and had to get taken across in a safari truck!

 But it was well worth it. We stayed at a place called Ngepi Camp, and got to sleep in tree houses that were literally on the Okovango river. Ngepi also had a pool that was floating in the river, some pretty funny toilets, and a huge fire pit where we sat and talked with people until way past late. We got to hear hippos at night as they meandered through the swamp around the camp, and saw families of them when we went out on boats down the river, as well as crocs! Crazy part is? That's not even the best part!

On our third day in the Caprivi region, my family and I had been talking around our own little fire pit near one of our tree houses when we heard rustling in the swamp. We looked over to see a giant grey mass of a hippo who was munching away at the grass! To our disappointment, it ended up making its way back into the thick of the brush when we tried to get in close enough for a picture. 

Later that evening, the hippo came back! I had been walking back from grabbing water from the other tree house, and had heard some familiar noises of hippo.  When I walked back to our fire pit, my suspicions were confirmed! My whole family was up on the deck because the same hippo was ten yards away! This time it was munching grass on land, and was a formidable dark mass in the evening light! To get an even better view, we followed the hippo and snuck around a bush hut to look at it from a better angle. We got close... But a bit too close. 

When a hippo gets irritated or feels threatened, especially a bull (male), it can turn ugly real fast. They are quite unpredictable animals, and have killed more people than elephants or lions: one second your calmly watching, and the next a hippo is mauling everyone. 

No one got killed. But the hippo gave a mock charge towards us all as a once off warning. It is quite the same as a bull's mock charge, except over 1,000 pounds scarier! It definetly got our adrenalin going!!! They might be big animals, but when they want to, they really can move! We got to see an example of this later at dinner by the main lodge, when the hippo bolted across the grass to the swamp!

This was by far the best and most memorable Easter ever. Even though there weren't any eggs to be found, the last morning I discovered owl pellets in my sink! Hope your Easters were all great, and filled with plenty of owl pellets and hippos too! ;-)

Viva la France!

After the trip to Boston, we got to spend a week in France before heading back to Namibia. After one gets over the pure exhaustion of time change, you realize that there's a reason this is one of the most talked about destinations in the entire world. There's so much to see and experience that one trip never really can cover everything.

My family and I only had enough time to visit Paris, but it was amazing nonetheless. We visited the Louvre, Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, and so much more I might as well just show you my pictures!:

I Have Lived in America for 14 Years, But I Felt Like a Total Tourist...

Since my mom had an AIDS conference in Boston to attend, my brother Jason, my dad and I got to spend a week as tourists! Being back in America for the first time in six months was a shock...

 Boston felt like a deep freezer after coming from Africa. It was below freezing every day of our visit, which is just a tiny bit colder than the ninety degrees weather I've grown used to. We actually ended up getting flurries on the last day.

Despite the cold weather, my dad, brother and I spent most days walking around looking at the city. You have no idea how mind blowing it is to see skyscrapers and fancy buildings after being surrounded with one room huts built from scrap metal & car pieces. We also checked out the historical sights as well, and had lovely conversation about Africa with the active duty Navy personnel aboard the U.S.S. Constitution.

The speed at which everything happens in the American lifestyle was blindingly fast after living in Namibia. I mean, the chefs must marinate their ingredients in some sort of Speedy Gonzales steroid cooking juice, because that food just appears on the table like magic! Not to mention the metro made transportation waaaay too easy compared to what I'm used to: 'what do you mean I don't have to walk several kilometers if I want to reach the next town?' Despite the bedazzlement, Jason enjoyed a Subway sandwich and we all had fun getting treated terribly on purpose at Dick's Last Resort!

 

Three Time's The Charm

Our second day of hunting began early in the morning in hopes of following the wildebeest. We wolfed down breakfast and were jumping in to the back of the pick up at around 5 a.m. Unfortunately, we didn't have any luck with tracking once again, and had to give it up.

But it wasn't long until we spotted Oryx. The first time we stalked them that morning, they spooked before we had gotten close enough for a shot. During the second attempt, we spotted rhino tracks while we were making our way through the bush; the Oryx was walking away from us, which is never the ideal time to take a shot, as shooting too high can ruin a trophy head. But as they say, three time's the charm.

And they were right. We managed to get close to two of them. There wasn't any rain, so the flies and Mosquitos had come back out to reap havoc on anything and everything. The two Oryx were especially annoyed. They would reach their hind leg up towards their head and itch, and whip their tails in annoyance. Both were side by side, taking turns looking or grazing.

 We stepped out silently into the open towards them, and only then did Yakub spot a lone male Oryx laying in the grass. 

"Take the one lying down where the neck-" he began; we watched it stand up in surprise at the sight of three strange alien-looking life forms. 

"Take it now! Take it!" Yakub whispered.

I didn't even hear the shot. Barely felt the recoil. But suddenly we were running over to the Oryx which had fallen over and couldn't get up. It's a crazy feeling. A weird mix of awe and adrenalin.

 Yakub congratulated me, telling me that the shot was perfect. Dead on. Francis drove up in the truck, jumping out with a smile. He congratulated me as well. 

Yakub explained that there was a tradition in Namibia called "The Last Meal," which is done out of respect for the animal. He took a piece of shrub, breaking it in two. With the first half, he rubbed it in the wound, and gave it to the oryx -a last meal. With the second, he rubbed it in the wound, then rubbed it on my face and stuck it in my shirt pocket -showing that I had shot an animal. 

With that completed we loaded the animal in the back of the pick up and headed back to the lodge so my Oryx could be skinned and assessed for trophy. (For those who don't know, the thickness, length, and overall condition of the horns will determine trophy.) The horns were measured, and I watched the skinning. 

Halfway through the skinning process, Yakub brought out a plate of what I was to find out later was my Oryx's... balls. Yep. Not bad though. Actually quite good.

We still had a good three or four hours until lunch, so we went back out once more. All the animals must have heard the shot, despite the silencer, because the only things out after that were birds! We got to try out our skills at slingshot until lunch hit, and I came quite close to a dove more than once. 

Bad weather and a lack of animals cancelled afternoon hunting plans...

The Ostrich Egg Omelet

Our morning hunt on the fith day was unsuccessful, we didn't even spot any animals. No jackals had come to our bait laid out the previous day. But the evening was when things got interesting!

We spent what must have been hours stalking oryx to shoot one for meat, with no luck, things seemed dismal. Yakub radioed Francis t bring over the truck, and we were happy to rest. Once again, there seemed to be no animals out... Until we rolled right by an Oryx just standing near the dirt road.

Yakub signaled to Francis to stop the truck, and placed the rifle on the pick up's railing.

"Take it," Yakub told Jason quietly.

The Oryx just seemed to look at us blankly until the shot went off. It fell down from the impact, then ran off. We all vaulted over the truck railing and ran after it, finding the Oryx lying dead only a few meters away from where it had been standing. Jason had delivered a perfect shot!

 We drove back to the lodge, and I was allowed to participate in the skinning. Which, surprisingly, is not as hard as it looks.

Yakub told the two of us that tomorrow we would go early to see if we could find any Jackals, since it would be our last day. But that evening, our plans were changed.

We hadn't been told this, but the owner's daughters were coming to the lodge due to the long weekend. They turned out to be a lot of fun, and we were asked to stay until Sunday at no extra charge!

The next morning we got up bright and early just as the sun began to rise. As we drove through the African bush, spotting giraffe and ostrich, it felt a lot like the beginning of The Lion King. Unfortunately, there were no Jackals to be found. But we did find an ostrich egg! 

It took a bit to convince the cook Anita to make me a lot of scrambled eggs, but they turned out delicious...

We sent the rest of the day with the owner's daughters swimming in a dam and constructing a giant raft out of rope and blow up pool toys -and getting some really gnarly sunburns all around.

To Shoot or Not to Shoot... That is the Question

With no rain the previous night, chances of finding the Blue Wildebeest shot the day before seemed good. I decided to have coffee with breakfast, just in case we had to do another stakeout.

To my luck we began tracking the wildebeest on foot. It became clear that Jason's shot had broken the right front leg, which meant the Blue would be extremely vigilant. Yakub explained that in this state, animals would often stop to look back just to see if anything was following them, thus he concluded that hunting it on foot would be useless. He called Francis via radio and we jumped into the pick up.

 The plan was simple: Francis would follow the Blue while we drove around to hopefully catch it head-on. The owner Tinus was also joining us in his own pick up to help locate the Wildebeest. The radio began going off every other second: it was heading south of us.

We met with Tinus at one of the frequently driven on dirt path intersections just as a massive Blue Wildebeest burst into the clearing. With practiced motions, Yakub moved the .308 into position and fired, breaking the other front leg. The wildebeest fell forward. Yakub got out of the truck and hurriedly told us to get out as well. 

Yakub sprinted over to the railing above a water trough that is used in the dry season, resting the rifle on the metal bar. Jason grabbed the gun and began to look down the scope.

Despite its excruciating injuries, the wildebeest attempted to hop away. It used its back legs to jump this way or that.

"Shoot- no, don't shoot," Yakub kept having to say.

Finally it rested long enough for a shot, and Jason delivered a perfect neck shot. Yakub gave the Blue Wildebeest its last meal, and it took THREE guys to load it into the back truck. Jason was extremely proud of his shot, and had an even bigger smile than before.

 While we were driving back to the lodge with the wildebeest in tow, the craziest thing happened...

Animals at game farms don't just stand around in the middle of the roads as a pick up truck with hunters approaches, so the female waterbuck standing in the road was certainly a shock to see. She was sick, as we found out when Yakub tried to catch it and the waterbuck ran headlong into the pick up! 

It took two trackers, one hunter, and a belt to finally restrain the waterbuck. She couldn't breath, it turned out, and since there was no chance of getting her to a vet in time, Yakub put her out of her misery.

After all that, it was time to head back to drop off Jason's wildebeest. My little brother refused to eat Wildebeest Balls, so we took a break instead. I managed to find Afrikaans monopoly and convinced Yakub to play with my brother and I. By lunch, I truly don't know who had won, because Tinus had snuck me a monopoly and Yakub seemed to have a key to the jail lock...

The monopoly board got destroyed during an unexpected man made earthquake, and we were back out hunting. We took some Jackal bait along -entrails- and tied them to a tree trunk for a later stakeout in the afternoon. My early coffee had served me well. 

We chanced upon helmeted guinefowl while driving, and I got to shoot one from the back of the pick up! Turns out there's not much left after you shoot a guinefowl with a .308 though...

Not much later, we spotted baboon about a kilometer away. My attempt at shooting one missed, but it sure scared the pants off of all of em!

It had seemed that we wouldn't be finding much more out, until we drove right up to a Puff Adder laying in the road. For those that don't know, Puff Adders have a seriously poisonous bite that can kill in under an hour. Just like Jackals and Baboon, Puff Adders are serious trouble and killed on sight. Yakub used the shooting sticks and the stock of the rifle to effectively accomplish this, with the help of Francis, of course!

We hadn't gone much farther after that until we spotted blue wildebeest. Yakub stopped the truck and said I would be shooting one for meat. We got out and approached them from a kilometer away, careful to keep silent.

When we finally came close enough for a shot, the sound of a wildebeest calling out stopped us in our tracks. Yakub responded, and the whole herd faced towards us.

"Take the one farthest left," he whispered, placing the rifle on his shoulder and motioning for me to move forward.

Once again I fired, so focused that the recoil couldn't be felt and neither the shot heard. We ran up to find it unmoving on the ground. Yakub congratulated me on another perfect shot.

Yakub and Francis loaded the wildebeest into the back of the truck so we could get on with our stakeout. 

No jackals came to our bait, and we ended up waiting for two hours with no luck. But that wasn't the agonizing part. Halfway through the stakeout, the wildebeest I had shot decided to have the last laugh, releasing its stomach gasses through its mouth and making the ENTIRE pick up smell like a dead animal. It smelled awful!

We were all glad to get going when evening fell, and spent the rest of the night playing yet another round of monopoly.

Why Coffee is the Drink of Choice

The weather finally decided to be kind to us the third day. Just sunshine, no rain to spoil the hunt. We saw a herd of black wildebeest soon after crossing into the hunting zone. Yakub explained that they are called the clowns of the bush, since they will run around and around as a herd in circles to confuse predators. 

Just in case you're wondering why there isn't another stalking story upon seeing these creatures, it's because there are huge differences between the Black and Blue Wildebeest. The Black Wildebeest is a dark brown in color, has a white tail, front facing horns, narrower hooves, and a smaller body. The Blue is a grey-blue in color, with side facing horns, wide hooves, and is much larger of an animal.

Besides a herd of impala, we weren't seeing much that morning. Things seemed pretty slow until Yakub spotted a Jackal 500 meters away. The vehicle stopped and Yakub took the shot from atop the pick up. The Jackal managed to run off, but after we drove up and saw the spot where it had been, there was no way it would be able to cause any more trouble.

Another hour of driving without seeing much meant we would try our luck at a stake out. When we arrived at the watering hole, the usual spot that they used was currently occupied with wasps. Instead we set up behind two large bushes... and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Now I realize why coffee is the hunter's drink of choice. You need SOMETHING to keep you from falling asleep with boredom! Thankfully we got to go back for lunch, because picking grass doesn't keep one entertained forever.

With such an unsuccessful morning, we were worried that there wouldn't be much of a turnout in the afternoon. But then we spotted Blue Wildebeest tracks, and left the pick up to follow them deep into the bush. We must have walked for miles, but it didn't matter when we finally drew close! 

Before we could spot them, a huge warthog stepped into our path. Yakub silently asked Jason if he wanted to shoot it, but my little brother shook his head. Yakub nodded, and after a few tense moments of walking as silently as possible around it, we continued to follow the herd. 

The day began to grow old, and the hours of sunlight left was at bare minimum. We were all exhausted after stalking through the bush, and Yakub radioed Francis to pick us up and take us back to the lodge.

"What if we don't find a wildebeest?" Jason asked me as we began the drive back.

"Don't worry about it, we will," I assured him, crossing my fingers we would.

Yakub stopped the car and got out to look through a clearing, he crept back slowly and grabbed the .308 and his hunting sticks, "Blue Wildebeest," he simply stated, "One kilometer."

Jason smiled from ear to ear. We both hopped out and began to weave our way through the bush towards the herd. The excitement reached its peak, and so did the mosquito hour.

We finally drew close, now crouching as low as possible while we crept towards the herd. Then one of the Blue Wildebeest made a noise that I can only describe as the cross between a snort, snore, and a sneeze. Just like the jackal from two days before, it was telling us that it saw us, but it was unsure what we were. 

And just like two days before, Yakub mimicked the noise, making the entire herd curious as to what we were!! They drew closer. Yakub placed the rifle on his shoulder and Jason moved over to shoot. All was silent until the Blue Wildebeest called again. Yakub called back. A mosquito buzzed next to my ear, and I felt it land, but avoided the urge to flick it off in case the movement spooked the herd.

"Take the big one on the left," Yakub whispered before answering another call. 

Jason fired and the Blue Wildebeest dropped. The herd dashed off, and it raced after its companions. By now it was almost dark, but we followed after the tracks. Yakub explained to us quietly that the Blue Jason had shot had broken off from the herd. They do this when they are very sick or dying, so it is a good sign that the shot may have been lethal. 

We followed until we couldn't see any longer, then marked the tracks for the morning. Once again we had to go to sleep with hopes that no rain came during the night.