Breakfast Hippos

Sitting at the Letaba Lodge enjoying a fantastic breakfast, I casually look over to see some hippos basking in the sunny river.

Later, I offhandedly mention the small herd of wildabeast and the herd of impala that are trotting around near two warthogs. Warthogs are much larger than I expected them to be.

It's a little ridiculous how quickly we (ok, I) become accustomed to seeing exotic wildlife.

In my defense, I've had "once in a lifetime" experiences a lot recently. This morning at sunrise I watched a pair of lions mating from about 5-10 meters distance (2 car lengths) - something uncommon enough that our two guides were snapping pictures right alongside us, their rifles forgotten behind the car seat. More than once the male looked over at our open-air landcruiser pickup and locked eyes with someone, myself included... It seemed clear to me that we are alive because he chose for us to be here and no other reason. That's always a humbling moment.

We stopped for a snack on a bluff that was 10M above and less than 20M away from four enormous hippos. The river in which they lay meandered in each direction with sinuous curves and sparkling waters. A dozen elephants slowly worked their way across and up a slope. There's a giraffe across another river from me now. The wildabeasts are mostly out of view, but still nearby. Birds abound.

I'm besotted by a european bee eater I've seen a few times - brilliant turquoise and an eye-mask. Hornbills have gobs of personality. Even the starlings are a technicolor dream compared to their drab cousins in my day-to-day life.

Someone asked me a while ago: "How will you spend your 50th?"

And I had absolutely no inkling that I'd be on safari in South Africa with a friend I met in Spain, after swimming with sperm whales off of Mauritius last week..... But so far it feels like a great way to kick off the next half of my life.

Nobody knows what tomorrow may bring.... If there's one lesson I've learned on this trip so far: you have to look if you want to find the amazing parts. They're almost always there but that doesn't mean that they're obvious.Baca lagi