It’s Africa!
You hear that a lot in Africa……..”It’s Africa”. It has a generic meaning like, “stuff happens”, “oh well”, “no big deal”, and “get over it” all in one expression. The reason I lead with that saying is it perfectly explains why I did not fish while I was there. So how did I end up half way around the world, along one of the most beautiful coasts in the world, and never wet a line, and I can tell you, it was no big deal……It’s Africa!
So here is the short course….and while I will fill in the blanks over the next couple of days, here is just a taste of why I never did catch a fish.
Let’s see …. fish, or stalk on foot to within 25 feet of 2 sleeping Cheetahs as night falls on the open plain? One of the most exciting moments of my life! (sorry about the dark picture, it is hard to get those darn Cheetahs to cooperate)
Fish, or watch mama take care of business?
Or get so close you could almost smell this guy?
The point here is this, instead of heading back to Cape Town and possibly getting to fish the weekend, we changed plans in mid stream so that we could stay for 3 more days of Safari. And it was worth every minute. I will sit down the next few days and show you the whole thing, but suffice to say, what an experience.
And there were other things that conspired to keep me off the water, and let me tell you the ocean there is not the Gulf, it is a rip roaring, wave pounding, freezing cold juggernaut. It was so awesome the pictures can never do it justice!
That is NOT a mountain range in the background….the waves were flat out awe inspiring!
And how about the reason we went in the first place? They have so little and we have so much. To see the reactions of the students and the schools was priceless.
I hope you get the point. I can fish tomorrow, and the next day, and the next if I want. But what I can not do is what I did. See the penguins, watch a whale blow, sit in a herd of elephants, drive over a mountain pass and stop to get coffee where they have to keep the door locked because the baboons crash the joint and steal food and dishes. Those are things I did, and it was the trip of a lifetime. So if you came for fish, there will be some in a few days when I hit the Gulf, but right now it is putting the whole trip in perspective.
But for the next couple of days stop in, I will document the trip and publish some of the hundreds of photos we took. So next will be Safari at Rippon’s on the Shamwari Game Reserve. So come on back.
Good Luck and Tight Lines.
