Down Memory Lane: Inside Africa

Having put off spring cleaning for a number of imaginative reasons, I was faced with the inevitable this weekend.Β  Of all household chores that deserve immediate attention but are merrily ignored, sorting paperwork ranks at the very top for me.

Evidence of which lies in a bulging leather file overflowing with assorted documents (usually unnecessary), as a result of year-round sticking of bills, receipts, notes-to-self, notes-to-accountant et al into its fold. Beside it, sits another burgeoning entity, a bag holding my most prized collection: a lifetime of memories in photographs. Typically, disregarding the more important task at hand, I opted to go down memory lane instead. Four eventful decades flashed by in a few hours as I pored over tiny sepia squares and waning coloured prints in numerous sizes: postcards, 4x6s, and large studio portraits.

Saving the best for last, I reached for my favourite stash, travel pictures. While I am convinced there is a certain je ne sais quoi feel to sifting through prints, turning them over, and reading their fading inscriptions (as opposed to slideshows on the laptop), it is one heck of a tiresome job digitalising them! Dogged efforts paid off and after another couple of hours, I had a few to share from inside Africa.

Camping just inside the periphery of Kruger National Park. The deeper we penetrated the wild, the more secure our campsites got. In Timbavati, we had to abandon our tents and bar ourselves into sturdy huts, in case the Big Cats came a-calling.

 

As it turned out, it was we who went a-looking, and found a lazy pride lolling around post a large meal comprising giraffe. Yes, we found the kill not too far from this spot. I was left wondering if it could have been any one of these we had spotted earlier that day…

 

 

 

I consider myself fortunate that I managed to spot and capture in print the famed Big Five during my safari trip to Kruger, even though I have no ‘leopard prints’ of note to share. Considered the five most difficult animals to hunt on foot in Africa, this term was coined by white hunters when they realised how elusive the lion, the leopard, the elephant, the rhinoceros and the buffalo were. I, fortunately, am in a position to differ with them πŸ˜‰

8 comments

  • lovely…..

  • excellent pics.. godddd i yearn to go on one of these visits .. WHEN is the question will be fun now i know who to ask for advice whenever i plan to go πŸ™‚

  • What a coincidence! While doing some spring cleaning a few days ago, I too came across my box of old photos (a full-sized box at that!) which I hadn’t seen for nearly a decade. Needless to say, I immediately sprung out of the spring cleaning mode, and the next two hours just went into reminiscing (and romanticising?!) the past through those photos! Everything else could wait!!

    And a few hours after that I saw your article πŸ™‚

    Thanks for the trip through Africa!

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