Still in southern Zambia and today went to visit some curious clouds hovering right over the city of Livingstone. Wasn’t sure if it was low-lying cloud cover or the smoke from a fire. As it turned out, it was just the 8th natural wonder of the world: Victoria Falls, or locally called Mosi oa Tunya (“The Smoke That Thunders”). This place is a water freak show. The curtain of water is nearly twice as wide as Niagara Falls and the drop is double in length. The power of the impact throws up a mist high into the sky, visible 30 miles away. After 10 minutes, I was soaked with backsplash.
Walked down to “the boiling point”, where the falls meet the river and was intercepted by a huge troop of baboons, 100 strong. There was a huge male directly in my path in front of me and he was blocking my way. Couldn’t get around him so I just waited. And waited. The longer I waited, the more of his family showed up. Soon I was surrounded by no less than 50 of them. The big males make me a bit nervous (their canine teeth are longer than lions) but it was fascinating to be so close to them. Kids were playing, sub-adults were chasing and harassing, adult females were grooming, and dominant males were observing and regulating. One juvenile limped by with a terrible bloody wound from a fight. The loss relegated him to the bottom of the social hierarchy. He was alone and isolated, the worst fate for gregarious species’. A fight broke out between two young males and was getting out of control. It was upsetting the whole troop, everyone barking and nervous. The dominant male stood up, casually walked over to the boys fighting, sat between them, and threat-yawned (exposing his nasty set of choppers). The fight subsided, peace resumed, and they all went back to foraging. It struck me as very primal, very human.
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