2002-03-26 - 11:06 a.m.

Skeleton Coast

The Skeleton Coast of Africa is a fascinating place. Years ago I read a fiction book about a young woman who was shipwrecked off that place. The tale of her trek across the vast miles of dunes, while fiction, was written by a South African, and I was sure that many true circumstances were detailed. The story of her discovery near death by a Hottentot (or some other very small race) couple and their travel with her across that great expanse was one that remained in my memory.

Coming to a water hole and refilling their ostrich egg containers, catching and eating the resident wildlife(usually bugs)and all the other details the author included caught my imagination. The arrival in a more normal part of Africa and the rest of the story was not nearly so intriguing.

PBS had a special last week about the Skeleton Coast and I determined to tape it to view on my weekend. It lived up to my every dream of it. Not a place I would like to live or even visit in reality, it is definitely one I was glad to see the real picture of. There are herds of elephants living in that arid landscape. They make their way from waterhole to waterhole, along with their small babies.

Lions also live there on occasion, but they are such a life threat to the small people groups that they are killed as quickly as discovered. The mortality rate is dismal. Out of one elephant group, only 6 young were born over several years and only two survived infancy.

The man and wife photographers had spent years there and had raised their own small daughter on that coast until sending her away to school at 12. She and her husband and small son are now coming back to help carry on the work. Now that the very small one man planes are available, views of that desert are possible that never were before.

I am so thankful for the wonders of books and film. I shall never be a world traveller. Money and circumstance prevented it when I was young, and age prevents it now. But I love the videos. When I thought it might be possible to go on a tour of Great Britain with my knee compensation, I realized that watching a video beat climbing in and out of a bus anyday!

I learned my lesson about travelling with a group while sightseeing with the family through Yellowstone (well, halfway through Yellowstone anyway). My desire to read the guidebook and absorb every little detail about spots that interested me was not received well by the driver and we left halfway through the book. What a disappointment! I had to finish the rest of the trip via the printed page.

I am sure a tour group would be the same. The schedule would be the important factor. And to tell the truth, I don't need companions to validate what I see. Me, Myself, and I do quite well on the great appreciation romps.

EE's devotional

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