21:53, Friday, 15 July, 2011

We saw Bing again on the morning of the 13^th. He was actually moving along much better than two nights prior! Spider, another adult male, social sniffed and parallel walked with him, even though he probably had to go slower than normal. Perhaps Spider is the hyena boyfriend I should have picked.

After obs and breakfast, I decided to work out with Janie. Janie exercises for two hours a day; she runs up and down the driveway for an hour in the morning, and then does a really tough circuit in the evening. I wanted to try the circuit, so she switched it up for me. Almost three full days later, and I am still sore. It hurts when I laugh, which makes me laugh more, and it’s just downhill from there. But doing the circuit was wonderful. We went down to the end of the driveway, lay towels out on the red dirt for push-ups and sit-ups, and cardioed it up the wazoo while looking out at the savanna and the Mara River. I have never exercised in the face of such picturesque reality.

The wildebeest were crossing over. There were several hundred in South Territory alone, and zebras could be heard making their classic vocalization, a bouncing mix of a bray, whinny, neigh, and something undefined, down by the river as they emerged onto our side. Eli, Janie, Adrianna, Lia and I stuffed ourselves into the Maruti and drove to the area of the river where the zebra and wildebeest were crossing. There I witnessed one of the absolute most amazing spectacles I have ever seen.

In the water at that particular spot were at least seven enormous crocodiles. Take the crocodile image in your mind and multiply the length of its body by two, the length of the head by three, and the width of the head and body by four, and you should have an idea of how unbelievable these animals were, lurking in the water. The zebras and wildebeest clamored nervously on the opposite bank. Periodically, some would make the plunge, and we’d hold our breaths until they reached the other side. But then a crocodile would move in closer, its long body barely visible beneath the water. For a long time no animals would cross. Zebra and wildebeest would climb down the bank, seem to rethink, and then climb back up. But eventually, the wait became too much. All at once, scores of them rushed into the river, and we watched as the crocodiles made their moves. They would go for the ones at the beginning and end of the rush. It was very difficult to watch the first zebra grabbed by a crocodile, dragged under so that you could just see its snout periodically coming up as it was drowned; eventually I had to look away. Another time I watched as a wildebeest was taken, and I will never forget the look in its eye as its head was pulled under. It was a look of shock, suffering, and an anthropomorphized realization that it was the individual who had met the end dreaded by all, the one who was being taken under, that this was it. Later, a second zebra was pulled under, and we thought it was a goner as well. But all at once it leapt up onto the bank, strikingly red blood painted across its black and white body, walking in apparent pain but reaching the top nonetheless.

The whole scene continued on for so long, but we just couldn’t take our eyes off of it. Watching tourists cheered when zebras and wildebeest made it to our side, but inside we knew that the crocodiles needed their food as well. A huge wildebeest carcass on the bank directly opposite us was causing three crocodiles to compete it great splashes of water and open mouths as they tore off pieces of its flesh; a zebra carcass floated down the river, a wildebeest body bounced up and down as crocs ate at it from below before surfacing to grab off greater chunks with their terrifying jaws. It was insane - such an event of nature! And all the while, scattered wildebeest and zebras deciding they wanted to get this over with, do or die, young, pregnant, old, whinnying or grunting in what might have been relief, triumph, worry, or fear once they reached the opposite side, the side of green grass, plenty, and continued challenges at the teeth and claws of the hungry mammalian carnivores awaiting their arrival. I will never forget what I saw that day.