Charla Nash, Better You Than Me

What a tasteless headline.
In the spring of 2006 I was in Zimbabwe visiting Victoria Falls, one of the wonders of the world. I heard from someone that you can pay a nominal fee to walk across the border into Zambia and view the falls from the other – more spectacular – side. It was flood season and the rains had come especially hard that year. So cross the border I did. Perhaps I missed the proper viewing platform, because I found myself descending down a dirt path a couple hundred meters to the water’s edge. What a site! Even the columns of spray that could be seen from miles away and the rumble felt in my feet while approaching did not prepare me for this mighty flow of water. Well over half a million cubic meters of the stuff were spilling over the edge every minute. *A Note: Since Victoria Falls is over 1,700 meters wide, the picture to the right of this text only gives a small view of the “Smoke that Thunders.” Check this link here for much more stunning photography. Anyway, I enjoyed this natural sensation for quite some time before deciding to return. As I was climbing back to the road, I realized there was something (many somethings) blocking my path. A huge pack of at least 30 baboons came swinging and bounding their way towards me. While the vervet monkey is the most common type of monkey found near Victoria Falls - a much smaller and less menacing creature - the odds just weren’t on my side that day. My heart rate immediately skyrocketed as I determined that my safest bet was to slowly back away and hope these sacks of teeth and fur achieved a greater sense of happiness in playing with the leaves than with me. I soon found myself pinned between them and the Falls, with only my nerves and a big stick for protection. This is when the monkeys elected to settle down and start grooming themselves. As soon as they started to clean each others' butts, I started to calm down a bit… and then I broke out my camera. I approached with the caution of Jessica Simpson on an army base, until I was just a few meters from what looked like one of the bigger females. Before passing and returning “home” without any trouble, this is some of what I saw:



Not until last week’s news of a vicious chimp attack - an article about it can be read here, and the 911 call made during the attack can be heard here - did I realize how stupid my behavior was back in Zambia on that beautiful spring day. Wild animals are just what their name implies; wild! There was no incentive for those monkeys not to rip me apart except for the fact that I obviously wasn’t seen as a threat. My thoughts and best wishes go out to Mrs. Nash in Connecticut who was left without hands, eyes, a nose, or a lower jaw…