Birding - safety & security

The nature of the dawn-chorus, for most birders, requires an early start and as these things go, for most of us, is usually confined to a weekend or on a public holiday. Alcohol, commensurately, usually suffers its worst levels of abuse on a weekend or a public holiday. When birders & DUI-revelers collide, it's usually in the wee hours and with some consequence.

How birders mitigate the danger relies on luck & perhaps, more emphatically, on common sense. Living, as most of us do, in urban-sprawl, the most logical option when exiting the city is via the main arterial routes. These same arterial routes usually fan out from convenient places of revelry..an inconvenience for sober drivers rendered 'too slow' for the bottle-taught experts. In the last ten years we've been on the receiving end of two incidents directly related to alcohol-abuse & DWUI. Both incidences could have been avoided had we applied some imagination and followed an alternative, more residential, route out of the city. One incident involving one particularly intoxicated moron, cost us the weekend's birding; some financial aggravation and a few unnecessary days in court. These days I make a point of avoiding the 4 am. gauntlet of alcohol-paralysis whenever possible.

Further afield the same alcohol-paralysis can and does find its way into the field. Retiring-rural-revelers, predisposed to a public rendition of 'God save the Queen' or something along those lines, is fair enough if they can hold a tune but somewhat annoying out in the peace & quiet..  Now, I'm not impartial to some revelry but only in the right context. I'm particularly opposed to beer-spittle as the chorus rings false too close to my ear. We had a similar incident in the rural North West province that quickly escalated when we appeared less than complimentary post-chorus. Fortunately we managed to twist the group's arm and they left a little shaken & stirred. Avoiding confrontations like these can be difficult of course. Common-sense, however, and a calm demeanour is usually enough to diffuse the situation. The alternative approach ie: aggression in an uncontrolled environment, usually ends in tears; if not for your own party, theirs and yours, eventually, by implication thereafter.

In rural sub-Saharan Africa the first rule of safely is this - Avoid driving-at-night, at all costs. Livestock, children & intoxicated revelers are often fixtures on unlit roads. The implications of colliding with children, pedestrians & / or large-bodied livestock can be disastrous, both at the scene and for your own psyche later. A similar incident involved our late return from the Kruger National Park via Lydenburg one Sunday night. Driving that road during the day is bad enough. Doing so at night is tantamount to disaster and a self-inflicted aggravation. Either way we found ourselves on a stretch of road, straddled by two rural villages, just as the sun dipped over the horizon. Tensions between the two villages had escalated earlier over whose women looked better in shorts .. I think. The two opposing groups had met, a short time before, in the middle of the thoroughfare. The ensuing debate, on the finer points of cellulite I presume, was enlivened with an assortment of props including knives, rocks & other Bric-à-brac - light enough to throw but sturdy enough to render the opposition brained. Into this maelstrom we innocently drove & well-before we had had suitable access to the local rules of engagement. Unfairly, you could argue, the heaving masses, on hitherto opposing sides, decided our interruption was sufficiently rude to combine forces and attack our vehicle. Suffice to say we got through but only after deft driving & some impressive damage to our vehicle.

Image by: dreamstime.com

ALL birders keep a list of sp. seen. It's what we do. In Southern Africa additions to the list include excursions to our neighbouring countries where a more relaxed approach to the rule of law is often practiced by local officials. This difference in interpretation can lead to robust debate. Often you're damned if you do or damned if you don't but almost always 'don't' is preferable to do. One such incident took place in the far north-eastern parts of Zimbabwe; a region well-trodden by birders in search of the forest-endemics. At a regular police-blockade we were asked to produce the engine number for our trailer or face a fine / jail.. The difficulty of producing an engine number for a vehicle sans-an-engine failed to register with the local constabulary. Some mixed-quantities of spittle did, in fact, find purchase on my person & under normal motivation I might have risen to the debate but in this case, at least, would have been a mental-wilting under what the constabulary envisaged was a somewhat grueling interrogation. The only legal option was to turn myself in; plead mea culpa, admit my complicity as a common-smuggler and spend the night in the capable care of the local President-extraordinaire. The alternative was 'an admission of guilt'- sans paperwork. An 'admission of guilt'- sans paperwork, is a crime & a career-ending mistake; particularly for listers. I waited them out & we left an hour later when the next tax-payer / eye-witness arrived; wallet unopened. Succumbing to cross-border bribery is, perhaps, a 5-minute coup for you & your group but almost always a lifetime of corruption for the locals.

Image by - www.vecto.rs

Gravity is often a force of nature deemed less forceful, less important even, than the opportunity-force of a potential lifer ie: a new addition to the list. This is commonplace in birding-behaviour and on one such occasion was perhaps a yard short of life-ending. Fortunately when birding from the vehicle windows tend to be open - any self-respecting birder will tell you that birds are most often heard, well-before they're seen & particularly in the mist-forest in which we found ourselves not too long ago. The route, in question, descended gradually down a steep mountainside into a wooded valley, some 7 kilometers or so further down below; not vertically of course - that would be a gross exaggeration but in a meandering sort of way. I can't say which bird it was that enticed us out but we found ourselves out of the vehicle & gazing canopy-wards at I remember not. Unbeknownst & behind us the vehicle gradually gathered speed and descended the slippery slope, unilaterally reaching the first meandered bend before we had either dialed-in the bird or noticed its departure. Unable to navigate the bend the vehicle was destined for the local headlines. A feat of athleticism and a perfectly-executed swan-dive through the passenger window, had the both of us teetering without a parachute.. The lesson you would think is fairly straightforward. Notwithstanding, we found ourselves reminded a few years later under similar circumstances in Namibia when I drove off a cliff in an effort to get closer. That too ended well even if relationships were somewhat strained post the event.

The hazards of a birder's life are commonplace & routine. From the unwanted donation of personal belongings to the fated drowning of birdo-buddies who've gripped-off on a bird you've dipped; time spent to and in the field is always an exercise of patience, restraint and not without its trials and tribulations. Even so, with the liberal application of sunscreen & some common-sense, most days spent in the field are cherished. Stay true to your values; be aware of your surroundings; walk lightly upon the trail and leave an indelible mark, not in the papers or on a victim's grave, but on the birding community at large & on those who may, one day, follow those same routes.