Thank you, Vanessa!
There’s plenty of information on THS to help newbies like me settle in quickly and comfortably. I’m also watching YouTube videos (I have a few there myself) about how to become a house sitter, and there are many good ones out there. I have yet to spend any quality time with the THS blog, but rest assured that I will do so soon!
I’m struggling a bit to add a link to my profile, but don’t worry–I’m pretty clued up with computers, and I’m sure I’ll manage it.
Yes, indeed–Kenya is an amazing country. It’s beautiful and wild and never still. Thanks for the invitation to share experiences. You asked what wild animal experience is top of my favourites. It’s this one:
Early one morning, I got up, went to the kitchen where the dogs slept, and opened the door to let them go out. I followed them out of the house and down the steps to the roundabout roughly 30 feet down. After a while, I turned to go back to the kitchen. With eyes focused on the rough stone steps I was climbing, I was about half-way back when I lifted my eyes and looked straight into the watchful and wary eyes of a full-grown hippo standing above me and about 20 feet away. The terrifying part was that I was stupidly between the hippo and the nearby lake, and a first rule of bushcraft in Africa is to never put yourself between a hippo and a nearby body of water.
Fortunately, I did not panic and did not scream. No one could have reached me in time to help, and had they tried, the situation would have rapidly deteriorated.
Instead, I quietly dropped my eyes, reached down to guide my dog safely up the steps, and turned away from the hippo as I continued walking upwards. Safely back in the kitchen with the dogs and the door closed behind us, I began first to tremble and then to cry. As I calmed down, I realized what an amazing encounter that had been. Each of us, human and wild animal, had looked deeply into the other’s eyes, sized each other up, and decided we were, neither of us, a threat to the other. Life moved forward as expected, but I carry with me to this day that eerie sensation of direct and powerful communication with another species.
I’m glad, Vanessa, that you were able to spend some time in Botswana and to gain a better understanding of Africa. It truly is a world apart from modern urban existence.
Thanks for making me feel welcome to THS!
Dena