the wild hunt

December 27, 2011 AD

Joyous Holidays to all.  A belated Jerry Christmas to all the Jerry’s
out there.

And a glorious post-solstice to all.  The days get shorter here, the
days get longer there.

My Christmas Eve Day and Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and Christmas
Day Evening were filled with the lovely scenes of wild dogs resting,
playing, and devouring prey such as hares, oribi, and wildebeest
calves.  What a gift.  Thanks, Santy Klaus.

I just had a great motorbike ride from camp into town today.  Its
about a 2 hour ride through flooded plains for the first part and
magical woodlands for the second part.  I was loving the ride through
the woodlands, just a rain-compacted sandy track through fantastic
forests, no one else around except a village every now and again.  I
realized that after all this time on the plains, I miss forests.  When
you go through the villages on or in any sort of vehicle, and you are
a white person, all of the children and dogs chase you.  There is
something instinctual in these kids that they all have to yell “Bye!”
and chase the vehicle.  And, the very last part of the journey into
town was adventurous.  I took the wrong track with the bike and ended
up in a tall grass marshland with thigh-deep water.  The bike stalled
and I had to drag it back to dry ground.  Luckily I had the help of
two local boys who couldn’t speak English, but who could clearly see
that this white guy had gotten himself into a situation.

So I’ve been really happy with life and Liuwa and life in Liuwa
lately.  And sometimes I get to thinking that I could just stay here
through February and onwards, but then I hear that call to move on,
and so I made a commitment to myself to fully enjoy every day and
every experience here, so that when I leave, I will leave satisfied.

I’m learning my way around more and more each day, and have had to
ride back to camp in the dark a few times this week (due to twilight
dog watching), which is a strange experience.  In the completely open
plains at night, when the clouds cover the stars and moon, it is
extremely easy to get disoriented (to become less asian?).  To
navigate here during the day or night, you have to recognize
individual trees or clumps of trees.  It is much different than
navigation in the mountains, where you navigate by landscape features
such as streams or valleys or peaks…and rarely would you orient
yourself (become more asian?) in the mountains based on a single tree.
 So, in Liuwa, we have descriptive names for most of the trees and
tree clumps in the 10km radius around camp.  And I am thrilled that
the name of the place where I sat with the cheetahs for 12 hours is
now commonly known as Mike’s Rest.  I overheard the park manager refer
to Mike’s Rest on the radio the other day.  I think the name will
stick for generations to come.

There is a chance I will be in some scenes of the lion documentary
that was being filmed in Liuwa.  It will most likely be aired on Nat
Geo Wild.  The film crew guys just left today with the story of the
young lionesses still unresolved.  But that is how nature, or
existence in general, is.  As Redwood the poet, in her infinite
wisdom, will tell you:  things do not begin or end, they continue.
And so on.

The rains have been many.  Most of my old favorite places to ride the
motorbike are now ponds or streams.  There is standing water
everywhere, filled with vibrant lilies and verdant grasses.  The
landscape has really changed, but it is still really flat.  Red lechwe
and new bird species are arriving daily.  Just before sundown each
night, the numerous frogs begin their bubbly babbling.  They usually
start their frog song right around Frog Time, and continue on through
the night.

I really enjoy observing the birds that come to the bird bath in camp,
especially the ever-vibrant kingfishers.

Most of my days lately have been spent watching the Wild Dogs.  It has
been amazing.  I love those dogs.  The hyenas tend to follow the dogs
around as well, waiting for them to make a kill so that they can try
to steal the carcass.  We have witnessed some really exciting hunts
and some entertaining post-kill interactions between dogs, hyenas, and
wildebeests.  Picture 10 wild dogs chasing a stampeding herd of 100
wildebeests across tall-grass plains with standing water, the light is
fading and the sun is on the horizon, and two guys on motobikes are
riding fast trying to keep up with the chase.  The splashing of paws
in the marshy grass obscures the view of the actual dogs, but what the
guys on the motorbikes see instead is 10 watery specters cruising
behind a massive black blob of beests.

I am drafting this email at night in camp and a lion is roaring nearby
(probably Lady).  Lion roars are spatially deceiving.  Many times it
seems as though they are literally in camp when they roar, when they
are actually a couple kilometers away.  That is how it seems now.
Hello, Lady.

Wishing you all inner peace and vivid consciousness,


Wild Dog Roesch