Lions, Tigers and Bears, Oh My: um, African version

How much has Western culture invaded the far reaches of the globe? Will their soon be Starbucks and McDonald's on every street corner? The first thing that comes to mind in terms of Westernization is this most obvious of sights - the Golden Arches, CocaCola, a Nike Swoosh. But what about those places still considered remote - what about the wild, the bush, the African game reserves?

If you have never been on Safari, its because 1) you haven't been to Africa or 2) you can't afford it. Most of the safaris in Africa are highly regulated and pricey. They cater to jet-setting travelers with little heed to the amount of money they are spending or how much is actually going to the local population - just as long as they are guaranteed to see lions, leopards and rhinos in their 3 day African experience and go home happy. Most guided safari trips range from hundreds to thousands of dollars each day.

And yet, most of the local population has never seen an elephant or a lion. For most of them, it's not on the list of things to do. If they live in a city, its after years, if not generations of struggle against the bush and its native inhabitants. Going camping for the thrill to see a lion is not a popular local activity. The push to protect African wildlife seems almost hypocritical, after most first world nations have completely wiped out any large animal populations of their own. Don't get me wrong, I am all for protection of the environment, flora and fauna and majestic locations, including the amazing diversity of life and terrain that Africa offers, but I can't help but think of this of just one more hypocrisy the developed world holds over the developing.

Last weekend we helped count game in a National Park in Zimbabwe. On foot. Amidst lions and leopards and hippos, oh my. No ranger. No guide. No gun. Two feet, three fellow expat companions, a pair of binoculars and a GPS. There aren't many places left on the globe that allow for this amount of freedom in the wild. We joined in 3 walks of about 3-5km each, counting as many of anything that moved that we could. One group of 40, we combed a large swath of land near the Zambezi river densely packed with wildlife. Even in our camp, hippos would emerge from the river and waddle by the tents. A giant elephant stopped to make sure we knew he was boss by marking his territory 15 ft from our tents, and the proceeded to park himself between us and the bathroom for most of the night. Water buffalo hung out in the trees just beyond the camp throughout the day. Baboons knocked our tents over while we were out - looking for food or just to create a bit of mischief. Hyenas and jackals regularly prowled the camp at dusk. A few of the groups got a ranger with a gun when going through the known danger areas, but many groups saw lions and leopards during their walks - without a guide. And often, it isn't the lions and leopards that are the most dangerous animals, but the herds of buffalo and mother elephants that pose the greatest threat. We had a ranger for our first walk that took us through the 'badlands', where a 25 strong lion pride roamed. He wielded a rifle that looked like it came from WWI. When asked how many bullets he was carrying, he said 30. I doubt it. When asking the seasoned veterans of the camp about risks or dangers, lions were almost the last think that came to mind - but the mantra was always go slow and be careful. They haven't had an incident in the 20+ years they have held the count. An impressive safety record indeed. None of them thought of the game count as a particularly dangerous activity, and were eager to ask what animals each group saw after their walks. This makes me think, how much of the 'fear' of the bush is instilled from one off stories and stupid mistakes - ala Grizzly Man. Given the right amount of knowledge and preparedness, is walking through the bush no less dangerous than the crime ridden streets of Johannesburg? Is this just one more Western way imposing itself? Are most African parks protecting themselves from lawsuit happy foreigners rather than protecting the foreigners from the charismatic mega-fauna that live there? Or was what I did last weekend really, really dumb?