Fauna of Africa up close and personal…

Yesterday (Monday) we headed to Port Elizabeth, the somewhat nearby city that features a fairly substantial airport. Br Joel was heading out for a few weeks of vacation and family visit in Tanzania. So we had to drop him at the airport.

Heading down the N2, the road that more or less leads from Cape Town in the Western Cape to Durban in KwaZulu Natal by way of Grahamstown and Port Elizabeth, we passed through a long expanse of rolling hills and valleys with lots of wildlife. I noticed in the trees many baboons sort of gathered and watching things go by. At first I thought they were large birds. I thought – how nice to see some wildlife to make me feel like I’m in Africa…

We had a very nice time in Port Elizabeth including a sumptuous brunch on the terrace of a restaurant overlooking the Indian Ocean. PE, as it is always referred to, has a population of more than 1 million, a bit larger than Boston. So while it is not a world-known city, it is not small. The port is quite active and I counted more than a dozen freighters scattered around the harbor waiting for who knows what.

Coming home again along that long stretch of N2 through things like Addo Elephant reserve Br Daniel, who was driving, noticed lions to our right in the process of mating. Br Roger refers to it as “nature porn”. It is the first time I have seen lions in the wild (acting wild to boot). They are really big. And I called to mind that it was only about 30 miles from here that lions dined on Rhino poachers at Sibuya Game Preserve. There is poetry in the poachers being poached. 3 people lost their lives, but the population of Rhinos has been reduced by poaching to fewer than 5000, with about 1000 being killed last year alone. It is truly gruesome as only the horns are taken and the giant, elegant creatures of God’s hand are simply left to rot. So I’ll keep my focus on the happy lions…

We came home and I felt quite good about my wildlife encounters – the closest thing to wild living in a monastery…

But this morning, sitting in my room fairly early, I heard the sound of a cow which sounded quite close to my window. Out I looked and, behold, not one cow but a little herd of about 6 cows… munching away as cows do on the grass in our front lawn.

This is not normal… So I grabbed my cell phone and went to see about a picture. Most of the cows seemed to head down the path to some imagined greener pasture before I got there, but this one bull, seen above, seemed quite taken with our courtyard. He posed rather pleasantly for a picture. I’m not particularly afraid of cows, but bulls can be dangerous – and they are really big animals. So I thought best not to push my luck. I got my picture and came back inside.

Cows, I suspect, are not part of the natural flora of South Africa. But I suspect wrong. Cows have been in this region for a few thousands of years and the breed is a mixture of cows from India, Europe, and most particularly the fertile crescent. Who knew?

So baboons, mating lions, and cows are all local fauna doing what they do. I feel privileged to be here to see it.

And I am reminded of the fragility of life – all life. And that we, as great manipulators of the natural environment, have a particular part to play in allowing God’s other creatures to thrive, or at least survive.

If we take scripture seriously, early in Genesis we are given dominion over the earth – which sounds good. But then there are many additional directions given on the responsibility of dominion. In short, exploitation is not dominion.

But we seem quite proud of exploiting the planet and its resources. Just as those poachers who ended up as food for lions while attempting to exploit rhinoceroses, we do so at our own peril.