An afternoon excursion with Jan

          It was never very clear who among all the people I met was who. No titles, no explanations of responsibility or authority. The guy who picked me up at the airport in Huidspruit simply told me his name was Jan (pronounced Yon), and it soon became clear to me that he had expertise and authority, whatever his position was.
         Here's Jan, in a photo he accidentally (I think) took of himself with my iPad camera.
         I think he was in charge of us "students"' which has to be a lot like herding cats. One day he abruptly asked us if we wanted to go for a ride in the bush. Of course, we were all up for that. So we loaded into the "bokke" I think it's called (pronounced "bucky") and drove out into the very extensive area that is Moholoholo.
         Our first stop was at this small pond formed by a dammed-up stream. Lots of very tall grasses around it, quite lush. Jan threw out some of the pellets I'd been feeding rabbits all week, and who should submerge but two hefty hippos. Jan said they were father and daughter and that the mother had suddenly died a couple of years earlier. Here they are,munching on the snack we brought them. And the SOUND of their eating was stupefying. Check it out! We were about 5 feet from them (in the bokke, of course) when I took this photo.

 

 

 

         Jan, in an uncharacteristically philosophical mood, said that if he were ever to be reincarnated, he'd like to be reincarnated as a hippo.    He said their life consists of just laying around in the water doing absolutely nothing all day, and then meandering out to graze at night.  They are absolute vegetarians and are quite capable of dealing with most predators.  Jan questions their reputation at the animal that kills more people than any other in Africa.  He suspects that lions, elephants, and crocodiles all exceed them.  But there's no doubt this benign-looking animal IS dangerous when it feels threatened and it has incredibly strong teeth and jaws.  But they're only for self-defense.  The object being, therefore, to NOT give them the impression they need to defend themselves from you!
         Lovely, lovely animals, front to back!

        We then bounced around on some incredibly rough roads and saw lots of giraffes and all kinds of antelopes. And then, these guys. They were perfectly happy to come eat from our hands, but it was not safe for us to get out of the bokke. Like the hippos, they're an odd mix of wild and tame but in any case breathtaking to see close up.  Their patterns seem more unique than fingerprints.