my guest columnist's take on the safari

16 Aug - 24 Aug 24

Arusha Serengeti Tanzania 

James Herriot's been a lifelong favourite and lifesaver ever since V gifted me with an omnibus edition when I was mugging for 1st year exams in university. That brick-like, hard covered and well-thumbed copy with pages falling off the spine has soothed pre-exam jitters and been a bedtime balm in the years before the single malts.

Those stories and characters were my first real peek into the animal world, their hilarious peculiarities and idiosyncrasies and the stoic nature of those who lived amongst them. They grew familiar with my repeated re-reads though I still am not much of an animal lover. Unlike J & M who have a soft spot for them, perhaps honed from the many hours of NatGeo documentaries, magazine subscriptions and zoo trips growing up. 

We were thus glad they and their respective other halves were able to join us on this safari in the famed Serengeti savannah of Africa; fuelling the trip with their collective factoids,  commentaries, laughter and enthusiasm, and especially help to capture all that we saw via a variety of cameras, light and heavy weight.

Nature and her ecosystems never fail to astound. How everything is interconnected and interrelated, the strategic view underpining the meticulous details, all of which is useful in some way, every living thing existing for a reason. The hippos who laze around in mud and water all day, still as giant pebbles, the motionless crocodiles lying in wait of prey, the meandering zebras, frenetic and seemingly indecisive rushing around of the wildebeests, the measured postures of the lions, the constant chewing of the giraffes, the gathering and parade of the elephants, the parasitic hyenas and vultures ready to swoop in after a kill, the colourful birds. It's so wonderful and mysterious how the colours of the grounded beings camouflage and blend so well into the surroundings, while those airborne ones are a vibrant riot of every colour imaginable. One of these feathered creatures spot 7 bright colours on one little body! 

God has epitomised Diversity Equity & Inclusion when He created all the animals - the long necked giraffes with their beautiful eyes and eyelashes and horns like hair clips, the boldly striped zebras with their weak backs and stubborn natures so that no one can harness them or block the artwork that is their skin, the flowing manes of the lions such lovely headgear and neck embellishment, the patterns on the leopards and contrasting ones on the cheetahs, the fan-like ears of the elephants and one of a kind nose for worming into everything, the pink hues of the salt infused flamingoes and synchronised dives of the pelicans just to mention a few. A hundred, a thousand, probably a million more instances of the creative and humorous touches of God. Which did He decide first- the animal? Or the community? The colours? Or the patterns? The function? Or the form? It's mindblowing for no human could possibly harmonise that many permutations! And dear Noah! How could he have possibly fit all of these into his ark? What an amazingly huge one he must have built!!

It was a week of ruminations and marvelling, as we rode the manmade wonder of the Toyota Landcruiser along bumpy mud tracks that provided an unexpected spine tingling massage, steered by a guide cum driver who navigated every pothole and stream with unfazed ease. 

For if God meant for the ecosystem to work, then the human one must too, and He must have already had a plan, a purpose for ea h one of us, no matter our colour, size or make up. If only we could as readily trust in His system and not ours, perhaps the world will be a more balanced one.

Waiting and watching, it was a humbling reminder of the reality behind the titles made popular by James Herriott, borrowed from the verses so beautifully penned by Cecil Frances Alexander in 1848:

All things bright and beautiful,

All creatures great and small,

All things wise and wonderful,

The Lord God made them all.

Each little flower that opens,

Each little bird that sings,

He made their glowing colours,

He made their tiny wings.

The rich man in his castle,

The poor man at his gate,

God made them, high or lowly,

And ordered their estate.

The purple-headed mountain,

The river running by,

The sunset and the morning,

That brightens up the sky.

The cold wind in the winter,

The pleasant summer sun,

The ripe fruits in the garden,

He made them every one:

The tall trees in the greenwood,

The meadows where we play,

The rushes by the water,

We gather every day;

He gave us eyes to see them,

And lips that we might tell,

How great is God Almighty,

Who has made all things well.

Amen Amen!!