3/11/2018 2 Comments Kruger national park!!This weekend we drove 15 hours round-trip to Klaserie Nature Reserve (private land connected to Kruger National Park) to meet the Provost of Fordham, the Dean of Fordham College Rose Hill, and the Assistant Vice Principal, went on 4 game drives that were 3 hours each, went on a 1 hour bush walk, laid on the ground in the reserve to take in the stars, ate our meals at the lodge as monkeys and elephants and warthogs and antelope and hyenas walked past, and saw more animals than I could have dreamed of seeing in three days! Before I share all the photos I took that keep me in awe of what we experienced, I want to try to describe the feeling of being the visitors in an environment, something that we rarely do as humans. Beginning at the smallest level of coexistence I witnessed, we were able to watch the interactions of the animals in groups and see just how social they are. Usually we think of being social as a human trait but this weekend we saw how untrue this is. Elephants are fiercely protective of their calves who are rarely far from their side. We were lucky to observe a lion pride. First the eight females and young males lounging around together in a manner that moved between cuddling and playing. The next day we happened across the two alpha males walking together marking their territory. To see an entire pride of lions and hear the guides easily identify the pride by the number of lions emphasized how important the social groups are to them when usually lions are simply thought of as fierce hunters. Similar to the lions were the African wild dogs. We were told they were a rare sight but we somehow managed to see the pack on each of our game drives. Although they were often just laying around we also saw them marking territory and play fighting. As explained to us by the provost, Dr. Freedman, the process of play is just as important to these animals learning as it is to humans. Beyond the coexistence within a species, we were also able to see many examples of coexistence between species. Our first experience was when we were watching the wild dogs and a giraffe peacefully walks maybe 50 feet behind them. This was so special as we are so conditioned to imagine animals as we see them in the zoo: separated by fences. Later as we were reflecting at the lodge we caught a special moment of elephants, antelope, and monkeys all near a small watering hole at the same time. Once again, seeing animals that are usually characterized by their predator-prey role so easily being near each other really shifted my perspective. This level of coexistence also includes the plants and insects I would usually not give a second thought to but all prove to be fascinating when you take the time to look at them. The most important part of my new understanding was reflecting on how we were also coexisting within the ecosystem. When we were on drives the animals were surprisingly calm around the vehicle; the guides explained that the animals were raised with the vehicles around and simply viewed it like another harmless animal. When we went on our walk (accompanied by three guides with rifles) the animals such as impalas seemed more frightened of us. Most likely because we, just by walking without even talking, made more noise than any other animal group in the park. Being on the same physical level showed that it is not impossible for us to coexist as well. This makes sense as, Dr. Freedman explained, we evolved to our current species in this exact environment.
The cherry on top was having clear skies on our second night and being able to see so many stars and feel human smallness even more than watching the grace and social nature of the animals by seeing our place in the universe. Okay, now for the fun part...
2 Comments
Suzanne
3/13/2018 05:33:16 am
WOW!!! This is fantastic Stephanie! Was that a hippo charging you 😳?
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Karen
3/29/2018 02:06:29 pm
Thanks for the blog and pictures; Keep it up!
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