The Gnu Gambit
Previous Chapter 'Time to Dive' here.
It had been a stunning morning, full of mass hysteria. This was an unsustainable pace of life. Which, of course, was sustained throughout the afternoon...
We finished our lunch then continued upriver in search of more mental beasties. As these guys are everywhere it wasn't long before...
Out of the dense bush bordering the Mara poured another herd of tightly-packed insanity.
Rather than searching out an easy decent to the river, they just leapt from wherever they found themselves.
Creating a dust cloud making it impossible to see where they were going.
On reaching ground zero they ran around in random directions until finally they plunged headlong into the river.
Then they hurtled through the water in a wild frenzy, sometimes, just to add to the confusion, turning a full one eighty and running back again.
Once they had rearranged their brain cells, they went hell for leather straight across the water. Amongst wildebeests this is known as the 'Hakuna Matata' gambit. This is their most common tactic. Shortly we would see their alternative technique, the 'I'm Surrounded by Idiots' gambit. Both of these are preferable to the 'Circle of Life' gambit:
...where a few of them would stand around in a small circle in the middle of the river, chatting and waiting for destiny to come knocking on their door.
Keeping one or two abreast has the advantage of speed. In this case it worked as the water level was so low they could keep their footing. There were zero fatalities.
Leaping up and down helps confuse lurking crocodiles.
It's also fun.
Splashing about in the water has much to be said for it.
Even some zebras decided to join in the general festivities.
All succeeded in getting out the other side.
Although the frolicking continued for a while as it was such fun
Even the smallest of them made it through.
This one looked like he must have been born half-way across!
Happy frolicking!
In ten minutes it was all over, and peace returned to the savanna.
But not for long.
As we went even further upriver we came across this herd of wildebeest who seemed rather nonplused at their situation. Mind you, they always appear a little nonplused so maybe this was just a matter of degree.
Even for a brainless beast this was too far to jump. So they didn't.
Uh, wrong again. Just around the corner was easier access. So they all took it. All at the same time. In one utterly insane mad rush.
They momentarily hesitated at the waters edge to try to fool any onlooking crocs into thinking that they were just there for the booze.
Then, as if of one mind (probably an overestimate) the whole bloody lot went in together. The 'I'm Surrounded by Idiots' gambit.
And it worked.
They heaved themselves out of the other side and made their way to greener pastures.
The more thoughtful members of the intelligence community decided against it. This could be because they had noticed that the 'greener pastures' looked pretty bloody bare...
Four complete crossings in one day. What an amazing end to a day that was only our fourth in the Serengeti. Absolutely unforgettable. Although I'd better write it down just to make sure.
As the sun started to head south (ok, a slight loss of sense of direction there...), we set off back for camp, taking only a short detour on the way.
Ok, as you have probably guessed by now, our short detours usually ended up as much longer ones.
This was to be no exception.
Next Chapter: The Art of Seduction...
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