Living Simple(r)

Life here in Kruger is pretty straightforward. Live in a tent, wake up when its light, go to bed when its dark, cook simple meals. The change from living in the middle of 4 million people in Atlanta is very welcome. I wouldn’t exactly call it simple living, but its much simpler than most of what I’m used to, and it will be tough when I have to go back to America later in the year. Tough getting back into more hectic life where any convenience you want is right at your finger tips and its easy to live with much more than you really need.

That said, we obviously have some modern conveniences here in the camp or you wouldn’t be reading my blog and I wouldn’t be emailing people. The internet connection (slow dial-up over the cell phone network) is nice so that I can keep up with family and friends, read about the World Series (GO CARDS!!!), gloat over the mid-term elections (GO DEMS!), and even submit manuscripts for publication. But there are times when it really is an intrusion that I would rather not have. Emailing someone whilst sitting hear listening to lions roar is kind of a strange thing.

Cell phones also are everywhere here as well. Luckily the reception doesn’t go much beyond a 7km radius around the camp, but it is still strange be out in the bush watching zebra or elephant and you get a text message. It definitely detracts from the wildness of this place when you can email home and check your voicemail from your tent. Plus, any time I am feeling short on coffee I can pop by the restaurant next to the shop where we buy food and have an espresso or cappuccino (not that I drink fru-fru coffee) or whatever. While that convenience is nice and really seems to play to the European tourist crowd here, I would really rather not have that. If anything, I would rather be able to get some good Mexican food and a margarita, which, incidentally, is my first meal when I get back to the States. I’ve had that planned for a long time.

So I guess my point is that Kruger is a bundle of contradictions (aren’t we all?). You can get chased by an elephant at 8AM and have your latte while reliving the event at 10AM and then email your family about it at lunch time. Don’t get me wrong, this is definitely African wildness. So says the lion that mock-charged us at the lion capture last night. But there are definitely some rough edges that have been smoothed considerably for the sake of the tourists. I guess its tougher to fund your national park without being able to serve white wine spritzers.