Days & Nights

“Shane, are you okay? I have not seen you have your vitamin C yet this morning.”

“What’s that, Momma T?”

“You know, Coffee. Your vitamin C!”

We laughed around the breakfast table. This morning was my last breakfast with the Tshishonga Family for a couple of days. A friend of mine is picking me up this afternoon. We’ll have dinner at his commune tonight. Tomorrow, we’re heading up north to interview a couple that fled Zimbabwe with a herd of elephants.

Research is going remarkably well. Everyone here knows someone who fled Zimbabwe. Not only have I found all the information that I need to write my thesis this spring, but I have also been blown off my feet. The stories I have heard are astounding. The broken hearts still ache. The coffee, tea, beer and conversations I have gotten to share with so many beautiful people will never be forgotten. You can’t capture such with photos, but in this post I’ll share a couple of the pictures I’ve snapped on recent adventures. (Click a pic to enlarge it.)

As I mentioned, one of the guys I got to interview is a nature videographer. He got Graeme and I into a game park. The hut we got to stay in was awesome. The place was beautiful. The game drives were cool. Our own moonlight, headlight-less car-top explorations of the game reserve were exhilarating. In the sunrise, the ranger took us on a walk. He has trained the lions. They come right up to you and brush against your legs like house-cats. When they get too playful and chew on the hems of your clothes, he shouts, “Hey, kitty, too much!” He is smiling, but his hand is ready by the holster that holds his .44.

After the lions, and the research and adventures up north, I went to a beach house south of Durban with Emxee, Senny and Uncle Dan. It was refreshing. Porching is my favorite sport. We all became champion porchers those days. Those are the only 4 days of this trip that I have not met or talked to someone from Zimbabwe. When everything was hitting the fan, people fleeing the country were only allowed to leave with 500 Rand (less than $80). So, they drove as far as their gas tanks would get them. When their engines sputtered and ran dry, they pulled to the side of the road and settled, beginning new lives.

After those days, I met up with a group of students from Delaware that happen to be here at the same time. We went on a safari at Madikwe Game Reserve. Americans are a ridiculous lot. That place is beautiful.

We’ve been raised with the false concept that the sun rises and then sets.

But it never does:

The earth just falls around it.

In case you’re wondering, this is what an elephant looks like on a time-exposure in the night.

Days and nights came and went. “The white man has his watch, but the African has time.”

In case you’re wondering, this is what an elephant looks like in the sunrise.

So, there you have a couple of my recent photos and hints of the adventures and deeply moving interactions. More to come. I am enjoying the heck out of it.

[click here to add deep & meaningful comments]

[Evangelina: click here to leave comments, haha]