Wild Thing You Make My Heart Sing

We have gone to the Kruger Park, and are now back, All roads there are paved, But for adventure, you can drive along very doable Sand roads, the crocodile river runs parallel to These sand roads and if you are lucky you can spot Hippos Or Crocs, which we did see. Animals during the day go to drink there and at Water-holes at their own peril, all sand-roads have a link Back to paved roads. The park is huge, they have had little or no rain, The camp, Pretoriuskop, we stayed at, the terrain Was dry, the grass yellow and the leaves on each tree Brittle and dry, like a tinderbox waiting to be lit, Yet animals we saw by the score, Especially impala, birthing season, calves galore Also saw two of the big six birds, the ground hornbill and And a saddle-billed stork, as well as a blue crane, South Africa’s national bird. Elephants we saw in abundance, Poachers for now, have left the elephants alone, And concentrate on poor rhinos who they shoot, And desecrate them using a chain saw to remove, Their horns right up to their flesh and bone. Warthogs are so comical to watch as they forage, For roots and bulbs, we saw a family and a loner, And zebras elegantly dressed in black and white Stripes, simply a delight to watch, But are skittish and wary not to be the lions’ next catch. The mighty king and his ladies evaded us this time, However, what we saw was both mesmerizing and sad, A leopard with his kill high up in a tree, a chance in A million we would ever see something like this, he had Secured his kill and unaware of us, started to devour, His meal, about thirty cars one after the other arrived, Each jostling for a position to see and take photos, Despite the gore, it was magnificent to see For everyone that had gathered, including Elias and me We saw Wildebeest, quite often and also buffalo, But the buffalo were quite far, we took a photo anyway And we also saw a baby hyena trying to cross the road To to his mama, so scared was he as he inched His way then ran to his siblings and mum, but the Bush was thick and we couldn’t see them, however Ahead was another hyena, a teenager lying halfway Across the road, a car must have hit him and sped, No one obviously saw this person, so he or she did not Have to report the Incident to management, this person Simply from the crime scene fled. We saw giraffes, but my favourite to park and watch, quietly For they are sharp, are the ellies, and heaven help you if you get Between her and her young, just put your pedal to the metal And run! But you can keep your distance which we did And watched mama elephant with her two babies, so cute, Her every stance tells you watch it, I’m watching you And I can be an absolute brute! We watched them playing in the water for quite some time, What a privilege they allow us to come so close, Animals can’t talk, but if they could, I’m sure they’d be verbose. Every evening you have to be back at the camp by Six o’clock, everyone starts their braais, time to chill out And discuss your sights of the day, Elias loves this ritual As he watches his braai and has a beer or two, What a joy to be here, hope our excitement with the park Is contagious which I have endeavoured to portray. PS: WILD THING – A SONG SUNG BY THE TROGGS