The tragic tale of two Lovers.
It was with a very special
permission that we were allowed to accompany two Anti-Poaching
rangers on one of their foot patrols.
I spoke of this
opportunity before.
My repeating parts of it now, has a very
extraordinary reason.
The route brought us
partially along the shores of the Chobe river.
The two rangers to whom we
were attached spoke little English and neither John, nor I spoke one
word of “Tswana.”
The Rangers introduced
themselves: "I am Akanyang. I am leader. I say, You do” Then he
added: “Please.”
“My name, Baruti. Said
the other ranger.
We shook hands while we
told them our names.
Early on in our hike, we
came upon the remains of a Sable Antelope. Only the curved horns and
the upper part of the skull had remained.
“What might have
happened to the rest of the bones?” John mused.
“Meat eaten by Lion,
Vultures, Jackal, and Hyena. Hyena also eat all bones. Much strong
jaw” Akanyang explained.
We saw many animals, but
all only from a distance.
Baruti explained: “When
walk, animal smell and run away. When in Auto animal ony smell stink
from Auto, no can smell human. Animal no fear auto smell, no run
away.”
“I could not have
explained it better” John said.
In spite of this
limitation, the hike was wonderful and for some reason, John and I
became somewhat pensive. When one is so close to Nature, one sees and
smells and therefore feels with greater intensity.
We had walked for about
two hours, when we came to a reedy area.
Down there, on the edge of
a field of reeds, stood a hut, which a woman, carrying a child on her
back was about to enter.
Akanyang called out to her
and waved..
She waved in reply and
stopped.
Akanyang took a heavy
backpack from his shoulders and walked down to the woman.
Baruti waved and shouted,
what might have been a greeting.
We sat on the log of a
fallen tree, and Baruti told us the story of Sholana:
Sholana was the undisputed
Beauty of her tribe and the tall, handsome Katlego had his eyes on
her for some time now.
In an isolated area, right
on the edge of the reed bed, Sholana built her house.
When Katlego asked her to
marry him, she took him by the hand and lead him to her house.
“This is where we shall
live?”
“Yes” he said and his
voice shook a bit. “This is where we shall live”
People said that Katlego
and Sholana were the handsomest and happiest couple of them all.
Two children were born and
happiness knew no bounds.
Katlego joyned the Chobe
Rangers .
Till one day, Katlego did
not return from a fishing trip in his handmade canoe-like single
boat.
Sholana walked overland to
her tribe and asked for help in finding her husband.
Every able-bodied male
moved out and they searched on land and they searched on the water.
They found him. His boat
overturned and destroyed by what could only have been a hippo, and his
body torn by the sudden, powerful body revolutions of a mighty Crock.
The women took Sholana
into their care.
The men sewed the remains
of Katlego into the skin of a black bull and the tribe commemorated
one of their finest friends in solemn burial ritual.
Sholana never saw the
destroyed body of her beloved and therefore she always remembered the
tall, strong, gentle man who was her love and her life.
When Baruti had finished
telling the story of these two passionate lovers, in his fragmented
English, tears ran down his cheeks and John and I found it hard to
swallow.
Akanyang had delivered the
weekly supply of all that was needed. He returned to us.
Our “Anti-Poachers-Ranger" hike continued in silence.
This is why I wanted to
tell you this story, separately, with specific attention to the
picture of Sholana, carrying one of her children on her back,
approaching what still was her home.
At the moment I took this
image, I knew nothing of this tragic tale.
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