21 May 2012, 07:05
butchlocits the last day
It's the last day of your safari. You've walked what feels like a thousand miles. The scratches on your neck and arms from the thorns feel like they were cut with a dirty butcher knife. The tsetse fly bites are itching so bad that you thing perhaps you will soon have no skin left from scratching. The back of your neck, your arms, your legs all look like the color of the blood that has dried from the thorns. You drink and drink, but are still thirsty. But, you've been here before. This isn't your first trip, but you are beginning to feel old and think that it might perhaps be your last. What a waste. You've come for that big guy. The one that you have always dreamed of, but he didn't show.
Now you're sitting in the back of the cruiser with the sun low in the sky. Feeling sorry for yourself that you didn't see him. You remember the dollars and think that it could have been spent elsewhere. The bouncing of the cruiser going down that damn bumpy road is hurting your back. Now all you have to look forward to is the long long plane ride home. Always before you would look forward to the next trip, but not this time. Damn where was that big fellow, why didn't he show.
The sun has disappeared behind the cathedral mopane. You hang your head in disappointment.
Then albert, your tracker, starts beating on the roof of the cruiser. Your PH's head whips around, and you lift your head. There, behind the bushes, it can't be, you're all done, but it is. The big guy is there, unaware of your party. Adrenaline rushes through your body. You all but fly out of the cruiser, and run hiding behine the cathedral mopane.
Resting the rifle against the tree, it seems to go off all by itself, and he is on the ground. Getting close, he is all you hoped for and even more. It's the last minute of the last day. You're no longer sixty something, you're 25 again. The pain does not exist anymore, only the feelings of success, modified by those of guilt. It's the last minute of the last day, but now you know, there will come another after all. See you next year
21 May 2012, 19:52
buckeyeshooterAdrenaline rush! That is why we do it!
