Ben Welsher | Writings

Day 3 - Kruger National Park I rose early to find the enthusiasm for birds that Mike had inspired in me the previous day slightly diminished. Some feathered bastard had sat himself out the back of our tent and called for hours straight during the night. Hopefully he'll have been eaten by an eagle by the evening. I should perhaps have been a mite less enraged though as over a cursory breakfast Mike and Bridget reported hearing hyenas outside their tent. All this is perfectly normal and fine. As we mounted the jeep a change in the wind direction reminded us again of the first stop on our safari. The elephant was even less fresh than the day before but still the vultures and hyenas raced the bacteria to gorge themselves. A pair of white rhinos mooching in the dawn gloom presented a more arresting sight and was another of the big five ticked off. I feel like I should be allowed to count half an elephant on the list but, alas, not even a whole elephant counts (despite their excellent ...

Day 2 - Kruger National Park I've been to some unexpected places born of random ideas thrown into wine-inspired conversations. Istanbul and the Balkans, Rouen in search of Rollo, Amsterdam not Nottingham. I can't help but feel that the unpredicted trip begets the unforgettable experience. The joy of it will always stay with me I think even as the opportunity becomes rarer. And if this is a final hurrah then it is a good one. Our wider family crosses oceans and now stretches to the the Southern tip of Africa. Fifteen bleary hours had left time without meaning. Was this beer for breakfast or was it for dinner? I often enjoy monotonous transit for the blank page it offers my mind. For the space it creates between me and the often oppressive admin in my life. It feels my thoughts have been quieted of late, that the violent struggle to glean life's purpose has reduced to embers. A greater contentedness perhaps, if so I shouldn't mourn but if something of me has been laid t...