In 2009 I had the honor of going to Tanzania on a mission trip. So many things happened on that trip I’ll have writing fodder for a lifetime. There will be stories here from that trip, telling of wonderful and amazing things, and things of which no one should have to experience. But this story is neither of those. This story is a great big pile of elephant plop.
We had a total of three and a half weeks in Tanzania, and had two separate opportunities to see the wild life of Africa. The first was Gombe Stream wildlife park, where Jane Goodall did all of her research with chimpanzees. It was a lot of fun, but it was extremely taxing and there was only on within our group who had the wherewithal to keep up with the spotting guides. He got lots of photos which were shared with all in the group, but most of us did not see and chimps in person.
The second opportunity was at Mikumi Wildlife Refuge where we went on a photo safari and got to ride in Land Rovers to go out and see the animals, This was so much more that lions and tigers and bears, OH MY! And actually, we never did see a lion. But there were plenty of elephants, zebras, giraffes, and all sorts of other animals.
One of the sightings I made had the guide very excited. There was a very far off bird that looked different than every other bird we had seen. I pointed it out and asked the guide what it was. He got very animated as he told us it was a secretary bird and that it had been at least two years since one had been spotted in the park. I was pleased that it was me who spotted it. The picture here is not my photo. Mine had a little dot showing in the landscape. It was really far away.
The Secretary bird can be quite Distractifying! in and of itself. They average about four feet in height yet only weigh about seven and a half pounds. They hunt for small rodents, snakes, and reptiles by jumping upon and kicking them. Tests have shown that their kick can deliver up to 195 newtons of power. That’s nearly 44 pounds. Coming from a seven and a half pound bird, that’s an awful lot. African farmers used to keep the birds as pets since they kept small pests and vermin from inundating their land. When Europeans first spotted the birds in the 1800’s they gave the name of Secretary bird because they resembled the secretaries of the day. During that period, secretaries were man wearing dark, knee-length pants and long tailed gray coats. They also tended to carry their quill pens behind their ears. The resemblance is quite striking.
But none of this is what I was going to tell you about. Sorry. I was Distractifying! myself. This is supposed to be about the biggest pile of S*** I’ve ever seen, where I saw it, and how it came about (aside from the obvious).
You see, we actually got to spend the night in Mikumi. It was glamping in the most awesome tents I’ve ever seen. They were on stilts, had running water and flush toilets. There was even semi-warm water for showers if you got to it before it cooled off as it was heated by the sun.
Each tent was assigned a Maasai warrior as a guard for the night to prevent disturbances by animals, but if the animals were disturbing anything, they were free to roam. And roam they did. The warriors did a great job. We never heard a thing. We animals were completely undisturbed by the elephant residents that walked past our tent and deposited the above gem just beneath our balcony.
I feel like I missed the view of a lifetime to have been that close to such incredibly wild creatures, and yet had no clue.
I missed it!