Mr. Baboon, please don't throw that!

Ronda knew of a waterfall and wanted to hike to it. I love water, as long as it's not too deep or too cold or the boat too small (ferries don't travel well in shallow, warm water, but that's my dream). As soon as I learned that we would only be looking at water, I agreed to the day's outing. It was near the Blyde River Canyon, but it may have been at any number of locations, as South Africa is pretty big.

Waterfalls are beautiful and mesmerizing, and we were hot (as we were pretty much every day there). The shady walk felt good. It was an easy hike until we got to the washed-out bridge. We looked for a narrow place in the stream. We found big rocks in the water that weren't too round or too far apart. It was dicey, but we made it across.

The falls were as gorgeous as we expected. We sat on big rocks and ate our energy bars and drank water. We took a few pictures, speculated on how high the waterfall was and if there was another above it, but basically we just relaxed and enjoyed the sight and sound of wildly splashing water.

Soon we heard voices behind us. Five young men approached us. One carried a small cooler, and the others each had a can of beer. We said hi, and I motioned for them to join us. There wasn't much extra space on the rocks, but I was willing to make room for them, as they were complaining about the heat and humidity, and their upper naked bodies were shiny with perspiration. One man said they were having a long bachelor party for his brother. Somebody was from Australia, or maybe he was from Capetown. It was a very short visit, so I don't remember all the details. Anyway, they declined our invitation and headed up the hill.

"Hill" doesn't accurately describe that climb. If it had been only a "hill," the three of us would have climbed it, to see if, indeed, there was another waterfall above the visible one. It was actually a rugged cliff. There were trees to grasp and places that resembled footholds, but I had no desire to scale it. Off the young adventurers went. The man carrying the cooler lost his balance. I wasn't sure if they'd make it safely, but they were buddies, on a mission of some type. He quickly righted himself, and they kept climbing, seemingly without fear.

We watched the water for a while longer, content just to be a part of the land.

The hike back was more difficult. I crossed the river at the same place, trying to use the same rocks, but they looked and felt different. A couple of times, Brian extended a hand to help me, but I refused it. Maybe I needed to do it on my own, to prove something, or maybe the thought of landing in the cold river (shallow and very rocky), with Brian on top of me, made me wary. It seemed that in the time I was carefully pondering my first step, Ronda had easily bounced all the way across. There's no need to compare my abilities to someone 24 years younger, but I was certainly aware of them.

We walked on toward the car, and Ronda stopped and asked, "What's that?" We all listened, but Ronda got it first: the sounds of angry baboons. We speculated that the young men had trespassed into the territory of a baboon troupe at the top of the cliff. The baboons sounded angry indeed. Brian asked what they would do to intruders. Ronda said that they are very mean, even to each other, and they bite intruders and throw feces at them. "Yep," she said. "I think they're the feces-throwing kind."

We left the waterfall, drove around a dam in the canyon, and back past the entrance to the waterfall hike. This took about two hours, and two cars were still parked in the shade -- the cars the bachelor party had arrived in. Near the cars was a large troupe of baboons eating fallen fruit on the road. For their size, they are ferocious, and I never wanted to get out of the car and pet one (remember, that's forbidden in Kruger but just plain dumb everywhere).

Was this the troupe that we had heard earlier? Had the young men surprised them at the top of the cliff? Did I ever feel bad for the men, if that was the case. Brian still wonders if they ever made it out of the woods and if the wedding took place.