Asleep At The Wheel.
Admit it, you too have been on the road and with a jolt realised that you’d been day- dreaming for some distance and can’t recall how you got there...an automaton. Similarly we can adopt habits or even embody paradigms sans the requisite cognitive engagement they actually deserve.
These disconcerting incidents happen when we don’t pay fierce attention and are not fully present in the now.
Following the lead of other more experienced guides, as a newby I quickly adopted behaviours deemed acceptable at the time and being 20 years old, didn’t think much about much. For years there was an attitude of “anything goes” when it came to finding and getting close to as many of the Big 5 as possible...on every drive.
From suspending a Land Rover on shrub Mopane trees in an attempt to access a pride of lion, to incessantly hounding a female leopard just to witness her hunt an impala, was all in a day’s work. Little to no consideration was given to the purveyed attitude of impulsive taking from nature, as and when the desire arose.
It wasn’t until after very particular events that I started experiencing pangs of discomfort at witnessing the unwitting, unnecessary abuse levelled at wildlife and nature by our ignorant conduct in pursuit of sharing nature with our guests.
What prompted this initial awakening was the year I spent doing habitat management during a guiding-hiatus forced by burn-out. Exchanging my Landy for a tractor, I dedicated myself to fixing erosion, relocating roads off sensitive to more resilient soils, maintaining artificial clearings and rehabilitating areas impacted due to off-road driving on vulnerable soils.
The lessons I learnt during this time were pivotal, as they lead to a paradigm shift regarding the impact and consequences of guiding conduct and a growing need to take responsibility and be accountable.
First was observing how the scars from indiscriminate off-road driving eventually deteriorated into accelerated erosion, deep dongas and soil loss. There was also the residual evidence on the bush from off-road sightings from months earlier.
Other incidents which struck very deep happened while mowing clearings with a slasher attached to the tractor. These clearings were basically artificial open areas to increase visibility and promote conducive conditions for grazers.
One morning I heard the repetitive thunking of the blades against something hard (a stump/rock?) hidden under a thick patch of grass I reversed into. I edged forward to determine the origin, only to find the butchered fragments of one of the largest leopard- tortoises I’d ever seen...it was too late...and this just because I wanted to manipulate nature to improve game-viewing. I started questioning the validity of moulding nature into something which serves our own selfish desires, which until then, I had not thoroughly considered.
My re-engagement with guiding was now influenced by the deeply pivotal awarenesses regarding not only the consequences of my actions on everything and everyone around me, but also my embracing of an innate desire to assist others in accessing the same connective energy I felt with nature.
Suddenly I began noticing the omnipresent ever-so-subtle non-verbal communication engaged in by wildlife in an attempt to let us know that they were not comfortable with a specific situation. Flattening or flaring of ears, a stern gaze, tension in body posture, a raised tail, pivoting to face us and rearranging footing in preparation to bolting away, became deafening voiceless screams for respect I could no longer un-hear.
All of my attempts at creating awareness and sensitivity to this vocabulary amongst my colleagues fell miserably short of what I felt was acceptable and started unravelling my illusion of objective ethics. With my back against this wall, I sought deliverance in the uncompromising standards I expected to be inculcated within the operating procedures of fancier camps.
During the following years I made the requisite moves which eventually landed me at the most expensive and award winning group of camps...I have finally made it!
There was however a little twinge of doubt which surfaced within the first week as I didn’t feel part of a like-minded team, I was the odd-one out. This I put down to the age-gap and ignored it as I really wanted this to work due to the prestige, expected sensitivity and my fixation on the reportedly massive tips left by celebrities!
Induction training saw us shadow other guides on drives and join guest meals to be familiarised with “the way”.
On my first drive with the head-guide we made our way towards a breeding-herd of elephant scattered along a little valley. As we rounded the turn a large bull came into view and it was clear that he was very relaxed and couldn’t care less about our presence. Slowly we made our approach until we reached the point where I felt was the perfect spot to stop...we didn’t...onwards we continued, ever closer. I was shocked as my legs involuntarily kicked against the floor in an attempt to stop the Landy. I felt deeply uncomfortable with our imposition upon the bull like that. Recognising that many guests previously suffered similarly under my own “guidance”, left me embarrassed and disappointed...why has it taken so long for me to become sensitised to the consequences of my actions?! Eventually we stopped a mere 15m from the still grazing ele. I started questioning my violent reaction to the proximity since the ele still didn’t care. What has changed within, to render previously acceptable conduct suddenly so upsetting? An evolution was afoot, it was becoming more about our personal relationship with our surroundings than just our outright impact. Immediately upon stopping, the head-guide hopped up and sat on the door with his back towards the ele and launched into a soliloquy of abstractions about elephants in general. It struck me as completely disconnected from the magnificent bull only meters away...almost disrespectful. After about 10min of this I noticed a rhino cow and calf marching down the valley and were about to pass right behind a young ele bull...knowing how belligerent young bulls can be, this was going to be very entertaining! At this point the guide finished his monologue, slid down into the seat, started the vehicle and began driving off...surely either him or the tracker would see this interaction between rhino and ele coming? Having been expressly told to only observe, I kept my mouth shut. Craning my neck as we drove off I was treated to the moment the young boisterous ele bull suddenly became aware of the rhino passing right behind him, catch a fright, turn with ears and trunk flailing, chasing after the now bolting rhino fast disappearing in a cloud of dust...lost to everyone else in the vehicle.
Later on the same drive someone found a female cheetah with 3 sub-adult cubs which we rushed off to see. They were walking across one of these artificial clearings only 15m from the road, so I immediately saw what my course of action would be so as to minimise impact and influence on their obvious hunt. Sticking to the road on the edge of the clearing would give them the requisite space as well as negate any unnecessary off-road impact. This is not what happened. 3 vehicles went off-road onto the clearing following behind the cheetah at such proximity as to have them walking with ears turned back towards us. The herd of impala they were stalking way up ahead, noticing the line of vehicles driving slowly paid closer attention, saw the cheetah and darted off...
The next account I’ll mention was when, with another guide, we encountered 3 rhino on a shrubby open area. As the guide saw the rhino he immediately, without slowing down, turned the steering wheel and veered off-road straight towards the rhino only 20m from us. The crashing and twanging of whipping twigs on the suspension immediately sent the cow and two calves scrambling...”Tsk...these rhino are very skittish today” is all the guide uttered before returning to the road and continuing.
Another incident occurred on the concession inside Kruger Park where off-road driving is forbidden and sensitive soils are prevalent. On a guide-training drive during the rainy season we noticed the stunning yellow flower of a Mouse-whiskers about 5m off the road. The deputy-head guide stopped the vehicle, reversed, turned and drove the 5m off-road on soggy soils to park next to the blossom. No one including the headguide sitting next to me on the rear seat said anything. Disbelief and anger started welling up inside me like a brewing volcano. Then he leant over the edge, plucked the flower, laid it on his camera bag next to him, snapped a photo, picked it up, said “wow, this is really stunning” before chucking it overboard and driving off...
My subsequent eruption earned me a stern talking-to by management as they needed team-players who won’t just fly off the handle...I immediately resigned and Clearly Africa was born.
Recounting all this detail is not so much a finger-point or criticism of other guide’s conduct as an indictment of my very own behaviour until then...I was asleep at the wheel.
Reliance on an external institution for ethical compliance is unrealistic, the accountable choice is to look internally, to create it yourself and act accordingly...
We cannot outsource nor are we at the mercy of external impositions, when it comes to responsibility for our conduct...congruity with our own personal moral code is solely that of each individual.
My wish for you is one of overcoming the soporific auto-pilot we regularly succumb to.
May you engage all your faculties in order to consciously steer and never be asleep at the wheel.
Yours in accountability