© June 17, 2016, Evelyn Pursley-Kopitzke |
As I contemplate this past week’s tragic loss of a toddler, I can’t help but remember my own family’s too close brush with one of the prehistoric reptiles.
When I was about eight years old, my family had decided to go camping near Sioma Falls, a series of cascading rapids on the Zambezi River. We had spent a fun day climbing the rock formations and playing on the noisy “barking” sand that was between them. It was hot and we wanted to wash up and cool down and for that, we needed more water than we had brought. So my parents decided that the water between the series of cascades was probably too rough for the Zambezi’s usual crocodile population and we would be safe enough to go and replenish our water supply from the river. We didn’t have a bucket to dip our water quickly, all we had with us was a five gallon jerry can with a narrow opening. But the water was roiling around and “couldn’t possibly be hospitable to crocodiles.” So we, my mom, brother and I, crouched on a low rock outcropping over the river and took turns fighting displacement, holding the jerry can in the water while it slowly filled through its narrow opening. Perhaps five or ten minutes later, we had our five gallons and set the container on the shore to skip a few stones over the water. The water was too rough for proper stone skipping but we got a few bounces with a low enough angle. This was our entertainment for a few more minutes until we noticed that the “log” a few feet away suddenly submerged when our stones skipped its way. And then it reappeared a few feet farther away. That log had Eyes that were far enough apart to be consistent with a rather Large crocodile — that Shouldn’t have been there, but was.
Nature was kind that day. Providentially, none of us paid for our parents’ reasonable but wrong decision. I am more than grateful that my parents didn’t have to live with that sort of tragedy.
Even when we knew we were in a wild environment, a scrub jungle beside a large African river, it was easy to misjudge our potential for danger. By comparison, in an urban environment, wading at the edge of a manmade lagoon in a resort would seem even more reasonable. My heart breaks for that family. Nature is wonderful, but nature can be cruel. Even a so-called “civilized” country can have the cruelest of events, even an attack and death by a prehistoric monster.