Journal Entry – Indications – South Africa
Warm and sunny – 28C Wind S Light breeze
We were looking at some giraffe dung and a few dung beetles. Les was explaining about how the dung beetles were working the soil and how they controlled every living thing in Africa. I was skeptical but Les knew. He knew everything about dung beetles. The fact that his bush school was called ‘Dung Beetle Bush Camp’ was testament to the fact that he indeed knew everything about dung beetles. He told us about the rollers, the tunnellers and the dwellers and the fact that the very fertility of African soil was thanks to the beetles. In fact he would go as far as to drive round a single beetle if he saw one on the road.
All of a sudden he stopped talking. I was a little grateful to be honest. After a couple of days of almost embarrassing silence he decided that this was the time to unleash his knowledge upon us. I looked up. He had his head cocked to one side. After a while I heard it too. It sounded like a formation of World War Two bombers! We saw them sweep past at head height. The giraffe dung rollers gave up rolling their giraffe dung and took flight to follow them. “Let’s go! “ said Les. Go? Where? I had no idea what was happening.
He drove the vehicle at high speed, throwing us about in the back. I wasn’t too sure what we were following so I asked what was going on. “The Beetles,” said Les. With no other information I gave up speculating.
After a few minutes Les stopped the vehicle. “There,” he said proudly. The rhino midden was a moving mass. Les explained that it was only about 15 minutes old and the rhinos would still be very close. In another 45 minutes there would be nothing left of the midden as the beetles would roll and bury everything despite the massive spread.
We immediately picked up the tracks on the dusty trail. It was a mother rhino and calf. It wasn’t long before we saw the animals through the bush and all thanks to the dung beetles.
extracted from “Master Tracker” – published by Apple Books
