I really dig this photo. Though I can’t lay claim to actually snapping it – that was done by the quick thinking and fingers of Susan Kram.
In 2009, in my position as Wildlands Studies course co-instructor, I was driving in the Great Fish River Reserve with a car full of undergraduate students from the USA. We were on our way out for a day in the field, and for one reason or another, I recall that the topics, tone and volume of the student conversations that morning was not super appealing. Something needed to shift.
We drove along all pretty unaware of our surroundings and then there it was. Could not be missed. Just off to our right, this splendid male kudu stood in its magnificence. And cast an equally magnificent silence upon the vehicle. The striking juxtapose and mirroring of fauna and flora, or kudu horns and deadwood was absorbed by us all. And it is an image which has become etched in my mind.
I continued driving. The vibe had totally transformed.
Text: Matthew J. Zylstra
