Page 15 - Pierce County Lawyer - May June 2024

The following morning, we began the official birding trip by flying a commuter plane to Uppington, a small town in central SA. Many people commute via these planes throughout the country because vast areas between the few big cities have neither roads nor settlements. Most towns are small, by U.S. standards. Uppington is a dry, desert town and the landscape became more desolate the closer we drove to Kgalagadi National Park, our destination for a few nights. Some portions of this park haven’t had any rain for over 13 years. Some indigenous species of birds can no longer be found there, likely due to drought.
The lodge was a series of individual small rooms with kitchenettes, and very clean and comfortable. All of our lodgings were clean and comfortable throughout the trip. This one was run by an extended family who also cooked all of the meals and the food was excellent. Each small cabin had an east facing porch with a view over the Kalahari desert, including into Botswana. As the sun set, the land glowed reds and oranges and the sky darkened through every shade of blue. When the night turned inky black it dazzled us with a magical treat- the Southern Cross constellation accompanied by the Milky Way as far as we could see.
The next morning comedic magic started us off as an Emu ran past our window and straight to my dad’s porch to watch him drink his coffee. Emus are not native to Africa, nor widely imported, so no one knows where this one came from.
To the disappointment of any birding readers and
the relief of the rest, I won’t list the hundreds of species we found among the thousands of birds we saw. To be candid, I wasn’t there to bird watch, and really have disliked
it most of my life. Going anywhere with Dad as a kid meant long detours or delays waiting in the car or on a trail while he wandered off to find a unique bird he’d spotted or heard about. Much of his driving was, and still is, erratic as he watches birds instead of the road. My siblings and I were often late to play dates, or left to annoy each other in fields, forests or on the side of freeways while Dad was in his own avian world.
But the elation of watching the birders on our trips when they spotted rare and ‘life birds’ was wonderful. They endlessly discussed and compared beak shapes, wing types, markings like strips and spots, and the nuances of bird songs and whistles. Every one of them had been to every continent at least once already and they knew people in common from other bird tours they’d taken. The were also well educated in world history, politics, culture, science, arts, and economics, so we had fascinating discussions in the long drives each day. Gradually, despite my 50 years of birding blues, I began spotting birds. I understood nature’s adaptations to environment, appreciated flashing iridescence in otherwise dull looking feathers and started when huge ostriches rose out of bushes like dinosaurs, and then snickered at their silly, flouncy tails as they ran away.
The experiences are what most interested me. I was happily surprised that every restroom we saw was very clean, whether it was the only one for 100 miles in a desert, or a public one in town. I felt gratitude that the remote ones had various locks and
gates to keep out baboons and big cats, but very nervous about traversing the distance between the van and the buildings through the locks and gates.
The food everywhere was delicious and cooks took pride in plying us with specialties. Typically I don’t
like red meat, but to be polite I ate Bontebok, Springbok and maybe other boks and mystery meats. Bok is the overall term for the antelope
or deer-like animals that live all over the country. They are pretty cute, and also filling.
One night on the west coast near a place called Sir Lambert’s Bay, we ate at an outdoor seafood buffet that cooked whatever was caught that day. The cooks grilled, barbecued, boiled, stir-fried, steamed, smoked and baked probably 15 types of seafood right on the beach, including lobster. The night was freezing cold, but the cooking fires were warm and the sunset so beautiful that a hundred or more people paused together to enjoy it in a magical silence.
On the drive back from the dinner our van had a flat. We were miles from nowhere, in the dark, on a rutted road with only a pathetic balloon tire to use. The nearest town was closed for the night, so we had to hope to make it back to our lodgings (which we did). The next morning a slightly better but still pathetic balloon tire was swapped in by our landlady’s neighbor, and we drove again, on hope, to a tire store about 30 km away. It didn’t have the tire we needed. It took another 20 km to find a place that did. No roadside assistance or discount tire warehouses for South Africa’s drivers.
We traversed central and western South Africa for two weeks, seeing wild animals along with the birds: leopards, cheetahs, wildebeest, baboons, mongoose, all the boks, seals, whales, meerkats, flamingoes, penguins and so much more. Following the days in the deserts, the southern part of the country impressed us with its lush green, tall mountains and long, sandy and blue beaches. Everywhere the ground was blanketed in jewel-colored wildflowers due to a rare good rainy season
The economic contrasts are striking in SA. Cape Town has beautiful architecture and densely built high rises, museums, upscale restaurants, universities and expensive oceanfront homes, yet miles of shantytowns border the city. Thousands of people live in homes cobbled together with wood, metal, plastic and cardboard. They run electricity to their homes illegally from the few power poles for outdoor lighting. The litter and waste from these communities is terrible, yet there aren’t other options. South Africa is a destination for many other Africans immigrating legally and illegally to seek better lives from their countries’ wars, droughts and poverty.
Perhaps its places of such contrast where magic and awe are most on display. On our way to visit an area called the Karoo,
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May/Junel 2024 | PIERCE COUNTY LAWYER 15