Cape Cross
Wednesday, July 11, 2001
South Africa
We break down camp again in the dark and this task is
getting old and tiresome. We’re on the road by 7:30 AM to visit to a wildlife sanctuary.
We are going to see cape seals, 50,000 of them. Our guide tells us the smell of
them might make us sick at first. But he assures us we will get used to the
within five minutes. The morning is misty and haunting and I fear more rain. 
We’re the first group to arrive at the seal sanctuary. So we
chase all the jackals away. Several of them cowered as they crawl past our
vehicle. They hang their heads, their tails between their legs and we snap one
photo after another of them to shame them.
The park gate opens and our guide drives us to the
coast. We can immediately see many seals
swimming in the ocean. And we can already begin to smell them. But the moment
we open our doors we can hear thousands and thousands of them behind a wall.
They sound like sheep and dogs and cows all mixed into one. The noise is haunting and deafening but
alluring at the same time. It sounds as if one seal calls to another off in the
distance and the other seal calls back. There
is constant noise. The sounds remind me of wailing noises that must’ve been
made by the ghosts of concentration camps.
The smell slaps us in the face and I can taste the
nauseating odor in my mouth. I do want
to throw up. Instead, I cover my mouth and nose with my jacket and try not to
inhale too much.
Everywhere I look there are seals on top of seals and then
there are more seals and then there are even more seals that have broken out
behind the protective walls built to keep us away from them. Then there are
seal skulls and skeletons scattered everywhere, the remains of the jackals’
doings. There are seals way off in the distance. Everywhere I look, there are seals. I feel
overpowered by the magic and magnitude of these animals.
I peek over the wall and looked out at one particular seal. He
peers at me with these beautiful grey eyes and long eyelashes. I think I am in
love. Marla came up from behind me and says it appears as if this particular
sealed seems to like me. I am flattered and begin to view myself as the seal
whisperer. I make a loud kissing noise
to the seal. He and 10 other seals
respond by quickly retreating to the ocean. They don’t come up for air until
they are so far away that I can’t distinguish them from other seals. And my thoughts of being a genuine seal
whisperer disappear just as quickly.
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