What's your closest encounter with wildlife?
- juliusotinyo
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Re: What's your closest encounter with wildlife?
We had rowed the outrigger to the spot. The motor had some issues earlier, somehow we'd forgotten it was fixed. The hippo incident was just last month.
The sharks were the closest I'd come to losing my life. Funny how through it all, I couldn't stop laughing. I guess people react differently in these situations. My other friends couldn't stop praying and repenting... I was beyond being scared for my life at the time.
- ReviewerDiksha
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My friend is currently serving in the Indian Navy. Now that you mention it, he too was laughing all the while I was shouting at him to start the bike and get the hell outta dodge. The experiences that you shared reminded me of him, somehow.juliusotinyo wrote:@ReviewerDiksha, I served in the Kenyan army a while back. I don't believe in warfare anymore.
We had rowed the outrigger to the spot. The motor had some issues earlier, somehow we'd forgotten it was fixed. The hippo incident was just last month.
The sharks were the closest I'd come to losing my life. Funny how through it all, I couldn't stop laughing. I guess people react differently in these situations. My other friends couldn't stop praying and repenting... I was beyond being scared for my life at the time.
- juliusotinyo
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- Manang Muyang
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Have you tried wearing a snake Zuma-style? I think they have that photo op in Malabon Zoo.
It's more fun in the Philippines, kabayan! Love your own. LOL
- eelavahs-jay
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You really had some interesting encounters. I wonder what I would have done if it were me. My brief encounter I made with a little snake in a mango tree when I was climbing the tree made me lose taste for mangoes, at least for some time. I guess these experiences are meant to give us some memorable experiences.juliusotinyo wrote:I've had a few encounters, I am an avid angler and camp a lot whenever I can. I have 2 most frightening ordeals.
The first time was on my compound in rural Busia in Kenya. I woke up one night to the sound of my dogs going berserk. I picked my machete (mostly ceremonial) and stepped outside.
I found a large male hippo next to my car. It was 2x bigger than my Toyota and mean looking, it's eyes shone in the dark-a forbidding red-blue hue. I just stood there, my 4 dogs ran to my side. We were no match for such a beast even with my ceremonial machete.
I had never seen a hippo that close except in parks and I've had stories of it being the most deadly animal in Africa. It started walking towards me, and my mind wandered... Standing ground to protect my wife and kids who were asleep inside or order Chowder (my biggest dog) to attack and make my escape. It stood before me some metre or so and just stared at me. My dogs had stopped barking at this point and had cowed behind me, my machete was no longer in my grasp...I'd thought of striking it's nose. Then suddenly from behind my wife shows up all groggy calling me back to bed when she sees it. Her screams...Well, at least it scared the hippo. The earth shook in its wake as it run away.
I replaced my barbed wire fence with a concrete one in a week. I've never seen the beast again.
-- 27 Sep 2017, 09:50 --
My 2nd encounter was off the East African coast. I had paid some local fishermen to escort me to a well known shark fishing spot.
I'd just seen Jeremy Wade's show and I felt I could best him in tagging a Bull shark. 3 men in a small outrigger canoe, I was confident.
About 4km offshore we cast our bait and waited. The waters were still and crystal clear, we could even see sharks below... Which was ok until a swarm of thousands, each about the size of a man.
They shoved, prodded and snapped at our boat. We're it not for the outrigger we would have capsized and be torn to pieces. It lasted for an hour before we realised we had a working motor ? strapped it and sped off...
- Manang Muyang
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I have the feeling (from your screen name and mango tree experience) that you are Filipino. Am I right?
- Mary Garrison
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I've had the same experience Miriam! The tiger took my breath away. I thought the vehicle would collapse under it seriously.Miriam Molina wrote:In Subic, Philippines, we were able to see Siberian tigers up close in Zoobic Safari. We boarded a jeep (with a glass roof and metal-grid windows) with safari guides who fed the tigers raw chicken meat through the windows. The tigers (easily averaging 400 pounds of striped flesh) jumped the vehicle and gave us a close-up of their dental apparatus. Not a ride for the faint-hearted!
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- juliusotinyo
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Hi @Meteku4, as memorable as they are always respect nature. Back as a kid, my rural home was more of a forest than it is now, we used to have Leopards, which although I never encountered them, they were very destructive on livestock. By the early 90's most were butchered by the residents and no longer exist to this day. So sad how such majestic animals can be easily eradicated.You really had some interesting encounters. I wonder what I would have done if it were me. My brief encounter I made with a little snake in a mango tree when I was climbing the tree made me lose taste for mangoes, at least for some time. I guess these experiences are meant to give us some memorable experiences.
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