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May 26 2006 - Tzaneen Country Lodge
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I've been finding it extremely difficult to write since arriving in monkey heaven. The experience is so overwhelming, so totally absorbing that the "real" world recedes and my world now contains monkeys and tent village, and that's about it! Oh, and also, the Tzaneen Country Lodge, which is where I am now, sitting in an enchanted garden writing this blog. I arrived on Thursday after my weekly shopping trip to Tzaneen. This occurs on my day off, and is hardly a holiday as the streets are thick with humanity waiting to pick pockets and steal handbags. Consequently, I'm on red alert while I'm there, and arrive at the Lodge sweating and shaking from the tension, fall into the arms of the receptionist and gasp a request for some dry white wine. This arrives in a small carafe, so cold the glass is cloudy with mist, and as the pale amber coloured liquid explodes onto my tongue, I feel for those first few, heady seconds that surely life has no greater riches to offer. I consider myself fortunate that I take such delight in such simple pleasures. I'm back in tent village and four of the girls have just returned from a trip to Kruger National Park. They didn't see any lions; it made me realize again how lucky I was to have seen three. And a hyena with an impala in it's mouth, trotting down the road with nonchalant assurance. I know I'm roaming back and forth which is probably unsatisfactory for everyone concerned, but I am unable to do otherwise. A week has passed since I began this blog and I'm back at the Lodge drinking the amber nectar as I sit at a table covered with a pink cloth and lit by the light of a candle. I come here to process the events of the previous week since I realized it was impossible to process anything at the Sanctuary. I try and write every day, indeed, want to, but the experience of living there is so intense, I find I am unable to do so. Also, last week I was stricken with what is euphemistically known as "travelers tummy." I won't go into the sordid details but I was out of action for three days, then I came here for two days, so I haven't seen my babies for five days! I'm so excited at the thought of seeing them again tomorrow. I worship them all, but...there is something about Felix. She makes me laugh just thinking about her. Her tenacity in the pursuit of what she wants; she's the smallest of the babies, but so large in personality, so huge in spirit and courage that she dominates, rivets the attention, shines like the star she is. And she is the only creature on the planet to have inserted a tongue into my right nostril. Trust me, that is some bonding experience.
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