23:26 p.m. of 20 June 2013, I write these lines to 10 Days of a flight to Lusoka (Zambia), The interior of Mozambique awaits me. I have 41 years. In Madrid, Spring has smiled more than usual. The night is fresh, If I were in Granada, I would smell jasmine. It has been a long time, I left with 18 years. Looking back is always melancholic, I still find some records of the teenager who left to Lisbon.
The photo in which I appear in this post is 2005, Alberto took it. Álvarez. He sent it to me for mail a couple of weeks ago, Eight years later of my first trip to Black Africa. I really look exhausted. I think when I got up, Something of me was sitting forever. Next to the photo, Alberto said: Dear Friend, I still hear the echo of the hit of the great Kúdu on the rock. That animal is still alive in my memory. My first footprint in Black Earth, that of my ancestors, It was the silk thread under which, I, chrysalis, I could hear the flying wings fly.
I still hear the echo of the hit of the great Kúdu on the rock
20.05 p.m., Mkuze Falls Game Lodge (Zululand, R.D. South Africa). In paradise a gin tonic always has a sublime flavor. It was the first of that afternoon and bit it through big drinks. You can locate me in one of the most stellar Lodge in Africa. My Victoriana cabin rises on the dry bed of the Mkuze cataracts. The bed is giant, And it is located in the ivory of two huge elephant fangs. The mosquitoals are collected white as wake of fairies. The second Gin Tonic rests between the G-Vine bottle and my right hand. The rest is just ice and lemon. Without thoughts, My body immerses itself in the jacuzzi under the naked and orange sky of Africa. I can hear a nearby elephant.
Live within the customs and colonial comforts, It is something really comfortable. Contemplate how Karen Christence's life could be (Meryl Streep) and Denys George (Robert Redford) In Memoirs of Africa, It's a discovery. You can even perceive similar aromas and interpretations about indigenous populations. In my case next to the Zulu ethnicity. I did not find great love in Africa, But I exceeded new thresholds and I came to know records that will always accompany me.
I did not find great love in Africa, But I exceeded new thresholds and I came to know records that will always accompany me
Like any other part of the world, The adobe continent can be known from the window of several trains. For me it is most advisable to get away from the huge and overcrowded cities, where the most relaxed life will allow us to penetrate and know better the personality of the everyday of their ethnicities. Without a doubt, natural parks can offer us, The vision of a lot of wildlife from a 4×4 Adapted for photographic use. On the other hand, our boots will continue as new as on our arrival.
In my case, as European, Africa is in large part what was read on the pages about Standley life, SHERPA PINTO, Bongo Park, Livisgtone, J. Hunter o Briden. Characters that proudly described a really exciting continent, full of the pleasure of adventure and not exempt from hardships and dangers. Quijotes who can go crazy with just a few lines of their reading. Stories about mono men, or the pigmety ("men-children"), hunters as they have never met before, capable of folding only with an arc and arrows from small antelopes to elephants and hippos. Africa is Bongo's footprint in the Cameroon jungle, of the Bosquimano or Cebra Huffman in the Mountains Thomas Hotman. Africa can still be discovered and encouraged to do so still read the hand of the great adventurers.
Capable of firing only with an arc and arrows from small antelopes to elephants
I leave the third gin tonic for dinner, There are always entertaining and lively conversations between the old Boers. I immerse me underwater. Just a few seconds in the amniotic fluid are enough to perform an ellipsis, A flash back of a few hours. Today, something, Maybe as chrysalis, flew, He stopped, He looked at me, became a gazelle and ran.
Just two hours ago, I looked at the dry riverbed. Sitting on a rock, The hat drained on my forehead, one of the trakers maybe with more fear than me, He showed me the traces of a leopard. The three of predators, We pursue the same dam. The last five hours we have spent thirsty as hyenas, Following very timer remains of blood. I make a great effort to follow the rhythm of the trackers. We have been walking and trying to read what they interpret on the ground half a day of intense walk and try to read what they interpret. The savannah was left behind in a vague and yellow mirage. Following the trail of a great wounded Kúdu, We have ascended to the thick forest spots on the plain. I look back and I can distinguish some Red Hartebest groups, some ñus and zebras of Planicie. The horizon is lost in countless equal and infinite hills. From one of them we leave this morning.
The last five hours we have spent thirsty as hyenas, Following very timer remains of blood
The sun does not burn so much, About four kilometers ago a large elephant had cut our silent straight line in caravan of 7 you 8 People. The pachidermo ramoneba quietly, We petrified. At this distance you can hear the animal digestion. Alberto, Xavier, The professional hunter and a few Zulúes trackers we hide quietly in the weed. It really was an evil, very badly, moment. I think I stopped breathing for a couple of minutes, Seeing so close the majesty of such an imposing animal. It is difficult to know but surely, of having changed the wind, He would have charged us with all his power, And we would surely regret the loss of a team member.
As a humorous note, I remember breathing again when more than 4 meters from the body of an African rock python crossed a couple of meters from my boots. I could not know its total length, since I did not see his head. This species can exceed seven meters. Little by little we go back, anticipating the presence of some other pachyderm in the area that we would not have seen or heard, We were not always going to have the wind in our favor. Now I remember the scene while writing and I think it was like who learns to ride a bicycle and only have an opportunity to do it.
We were behaving like a group of wild dogs chasing their prey
We were behaving like a group of wild dogs chasing their prey.
A good time ago, We know that we have missed although it gives me the feeling that lacks importance. The Zulús, They continue and continue. Motivated by the excellent quality of antelope meat, They just think about finding the animal. They often argue about things that I do not understand and then continue in a new direction for as many kilometers. Nuestro White Hunter tampoco para de trotar, creo que hemos pasado por el mismo sitio varias veces. Ayer le vi beberse más de 30 cervezas y esta mañana hizo lo mismo con otras tantas, así que empiezo a pensar que la seguridad que transmite es fingida. Creo que está tan loco como la risa de un bosquimano. Esta circunstancia no me tranquiliza, quiero reír pero no puedo hacer ruido.
Hemos llegado, seguramente por el azar, a una mancha de vegetación espesa, no logro ver nada más allá de unos cinco metros. A pesar de que quiero no aparentar debilidad me encuentro agotado y sediento. La circunstancia de que un leopardo esté dejando huellas por delante de nuestro paso no es muy reconfortable. Estamos perdidos, el grupo se ha dividido, We do not carry water and the zulus do not want to get out of here until they have their protein spoils. Can chaos be greater?
The Zulús do not want to get out of here until they have their protein spoils
At times I began to understand the difficult balance of the traveling of life in Africa, And the little importance of everything that is not the present desire.
Two trackers are engaged in a more discussion about the itinerary to follow. As shadows when turning off a light they disappear in search of signs and signs of the great Kúdu. I perceived that I stayed alone. I don't know why but I accepted that situation. Here people disappear like coming out of the film and says goodbye with a farewell. We were three and I am now one, a few hours ago the party consisted 8 and anytime we can to be two, leopard and.
The riverbed is dry as a human being, Metro's mouth has been empty, I look around without hurry and without desire, I don't see any Zulu. Where are your faces?, Where are your voices?, No signal comes to me, All have disappeared ... these uncles have gone from me. Exhaustion and fatigue observes me with feline eyes.
I sit on one of the channel stones, I learn that you can cry without tears
I sit on one of the channel stones, I learn that you can cry without tears, It's like chest cry. I hear the flying wings like animas that fly in stampede, It is not a bad place, But it's not a good time. I open my eyes in one of those mood oasis that leaves you tired. An army of thousands and tiny ticks have chosen my clothes to make maneuvers, I look them indifferently, I don't care about anything.
I still hold the mood for more than fifteen minutes. I hear the shutter of Alberto's Nikon immortalizing my situation. A Christ has arrived with one of the trackers, as lost and tired as me. He is glad to see me, greets me and continues. Me Levanto, After a while I hear the Zulús sing.
What happened in these lines happened during the course of the filming of a documentary about wildlife and hunting large antelopes next to the Zulu ethnic group. For any Africa it still has the ability to surprise. It is so big and extensive, that if you know how to choose, Any corner can hide the perfect place to begin to demade the thread of the chrysalis that we all carry inside.
