My former student, JR Glen, now a famous Chicago attorney, used to say, “This is like Scout camp,” when we travelled extensively in China, Burma, and Europe. But I have to correct that somewhat erroneous view now that I am in the Republic of South Africa, almost 8900 miles from Bloomington, in a game reserve near Kruger National Park.
At the junction of 24 degrees south and 34 or so east, it’s not quite Canyon Camp. For one thing, I have a three room accommodation, with
rustic (but happily unneeded) mosquito netting over my bed, an in-room shower and bathroom; for another, there’s a superb open air dining hall, that last night served ostrich and one of the many antelope that serve as the bottom of the food chain for the big cats that surround the place. Finally, I am the only Scout here (at least the only one wearing “Grumpy Old Folks” fleece).
But it would be a great place to work on Nature Merit Badge, and in a sense, that’s what I’ve been doing for the past 24 hours since I arrived. That’s the reward for the 36 hours from the time I left Bloomington, spent 8.5 hours at Heathrow in London (can you believe I could find neither ice cream nor a milk shake in that busy airport), and a 55 minute puddle jumper from Johannesburg to the nearest airport (a stretch of concrete two lanes wide in the game reserve).
I got in in time for the evening safari (my program has two a day–one at literally the crack of dawn, the other at sunset, times when the big animals especially, are active). I’m in a group with a mature Australian couple from Sydney who are on the last leg of a cruise that took them from Singapore to Cape Town. Last night we met our ranger (this does sound like Scout camp), Kyle, a 27 year old Johannesburger, who toted along a 375 rifle (just in case) and introduced us to the bush, a nickel-plated Land Cruiser that resembles a large jeep, and a tracker from a local village (there are 11 official languages in RSA, one of them I believe is Shangaan; I’ll work on my citizenship in the world merit badge when I go there tomorrow afternoon).
We had about a three hour safari (I think they call it a “game drive” too), that took us all over this area, which for all the
world looks like a place near Pictured Rocks which has been deforested. It’s fairly level, with some trees, lots of grass, and long-range views. African Savannah, it’s home to animals, and that was what we set out to see. Last night, it was just fun for me to be galavanting around the dirt roads, or even off them (the Land Cruiser has the endurance of a Grumman canoe). We followed a pack of wild dogs (7 of the supposedly 500 of them left) as they chased something–off the road through the brush. One of the jobs of the tracker is to sit high in the front of the Land Cruiser and steer us out of danger; another is to keep his eyes peeled for animals.
And animals we did see, of various sizes. The dwarf mongoose were in an abandoned termite hill (the termite hills can be
huge, and renovated, can house other animals; we saw one that accommodated a ken (not sure what the group name is) of hyenas this morning. They were a crowd pleaser, partly because they were next to the road, and have the curiosity and behavior that rather resembled prairie dogs.
The bigger animals were here, too. The most numerous were probably the varieties of antelope (the antelope play here more than in the American West), including the Impala (and I thought Chevy made up the name). The impalas are nicknamed “McDonalds” because there are so many of them served up the food chain, and because they have an “M” on their butts that resemble the golden arches. The antelope have huge ears, and it is interesting to come upon a herd that has identified a sound of danger. This morning, they were all turned in one direction. When our driver/ranger investigated, we saw the source of trouble was a hyena. My Australian friend cracked, “They made it through the night,” but that was only the survivors.
Other highlights: Zebras (Zebras and Lions and no NFL), which I learned can’t be domesticated like horses because they have a weak back; a leopard last night that seemed awfully nonchalant; a hippopotamus that refused to yawn and give us good pictures (he was slouched in a man-made watering hole, one of the essentials for wildlife viewing); and a pride of lionesses this morning–six in all, that looked for all the world like adorable big cats as they keep each other clean and lounged about–until one went after a warthog.
When we got back last night, the manager of the resort asked, “What was the highlight?” For me, it was just being here. Got to 
run. Fifteen elephants just showed up at the water hole in front of the Lodge. We watched them this morning when our ranger pointed out they have ears shaped like Africa and chew kind of sideways, so they can strip the bark from a tree branch.
I sometimes have the feeling the Travel Channel was doing a special–but then I remembered the Travel Channel doesn’t do much travel anymore. It’s more fun to do it on in person anyway, even if I don’t finish my nature merit badge at this Scout camp.