Baboons in the Mist

No, I'm not going to Rwanda. (yet)

I went on a fantastic 12 km (~8mi) hike today. Which is in itself a feat, because I didn't even go to bed til 4am, and got my *ss out of bed at 11am. But, I felt the need to get out and explore some new territory today. I've felt a bit complacent recently, so am going to try and maximize weekend plans to explore a bit.

Since I'd slept in, I didn't feel the raging desire to drive the hour+ to the place that I was going to scope out for possible future hike. Instead, I looked over the atlas for patches of green, while seeing what tips lonely planet offered (aka, the bible) and "discovered" that there was a big nature reserve close by. Do keep in mind that I live 2 minutes drive from a nature reserve w/ zebras, springboks, wildebeests.. But the hillage is minimal. So I set off.

Am kind of like being my own navigator and pilot. Except when either lost, or can't find where I'm heading. Which, of course, happened on my way to the Suiderbosrand NR. I didn't get lost. I couldn't find the bloody entrance to the park. I figured that I would then just drive all the roads around the perimeter, and would eventually find a way in, which I did.

We're heading into summer. The days have been hot, with impressive afternoon thunderstorms. These are REAL thunderstorms, much like the ones I remember from Colorado afternoons. Downpours. But also strike lightning. Speaking of strike lightning, I went running with a friend on Wednesday, and we got caught in a bad storm. I'll just say that it was easily in the top 10 of STUPIDEST shit I've ever done. I told S, halfway through, that if either of us died on the way back to the house that I was moving it up to the top 5 STUPIDEST things I've ever done...

Anyway, I'm missing fall. I miss the crisp air. I miss the colors.

Today was a fall day. It was misty and overcast. It was chilly. It was the perfect day for a hike. It was also a great day for wildlife.

Early on in the hike there were some Blesbok (antelope-like animals) and baboons a ways away, they were entertaining to watch. Could make out the baby baboons running around. I continued on, and was walking through a bushy area, listening to the rustling in the bushes, and then a few baboons ran by, and a louder one was making very loud baboon sounds. And he didn't sound all that happy. The path was literally leading into an area in which you were in thicket which was about 10 feet tall, and I debated getting a stick to try and fend off this unhappy baboon. I continued on, knowing that there were two guys coming down the trail behind me by about 20 minutes, hoping that they would find me if unhappy baboon had decided to take out his aggression on me. As it would be, we didn't cross paths.

The trail crossed into two meadows, and both had more game. At the second meadow there must have been about 50+ animals, a mixture of zebras, wildebeests, blesbok, and what I learned later, were Elands. Having encountered wildebeests earlier, I knew they were harmless, but the Eland, my god, was HUGE. It looked nice and docile, but I was more afraid it would be spooked and if it ran haphazardly and came towards me, I'd be hosed. Twice in one week (Wednesday) I wondered if this would be my outcome. Dead in SA from an ungulate (I think it is an ungulate?). Oh, here is where I should also mention that the mist was changing into a very mild drizzle. Oh, and I should also mention that since I got such a late start, and stopped to eat lunch while overlooking meadow #1, and had taken so many pics, I was running behind schedule.

I hear to true hikers scoff at the schedule bit.. But here parks close. The gates are locked. You don't want to get locked in... I waited, patiently, for the Eland to move. But he seemed to be enjoying the grass he was munching on. So like a madman, I tried to explain my situation to him, which also failed. Finally, I had to just wave my arms, and make scary crazy person sounds and gestures to get him to move far enough off the trail that I felt comfortable passing..

Anyway, was a perfect hike.

PICTURES: click on the link off to your right to see some pics.

The rest of the weekend has been enjoyable. We went to a comedy/drag/play/show thing Saturday evening to Celebrate David's birthday, then S&S hosted his bday dinner., That wrapped up around 2am.

As for work: We're in the cath lab tomorrow! They do pedi diagnostic/therapeutic caths twice a week. Looking forward to that. But for now, off to bed.

Cheers