臘八節，2014-01-08

【Aiden in English】

        The first night of sleep in Chobe Marina Lodge, Botswana after a 30-day cruise made me feel like landing and sleeping on the moon, which seemed really hard. When it was time for the boat cruise down the Chobe River in Chobe National Park between Botswana and Namibia, I still had black spots under my eyes.

        This afternoon, the 3-hour boat cruise was for wildlife. As soon as the cruise began, we immediately spotted a pod of hippos in the water. Once in a while, they would come up for air. Occasionally, the hippos exposed more of their bodies. They behaved so unpredictable that they would come out when we least expected it. One time, the hippo even jumped stretching his neck high into the air. Only a handful of people on board could capture the moment, while only a few had a good one. Mom became one of them.

        As we went on, we saw more and more hippos, but none of them really exposed themselves until the end. When everyone was all tired and bored, a hippo decided to put on a show and mark his territory in front of the crowd. It climbed out of the water onto an islet and began spraying a brown smelly gooey, but also a remarkably lot of poop. The goo flew all over the land. So whenever another hippo came by and wanted to grace on this land, it not only knew the land had already been claimed, but also got some goo on its feet.

        Nature has its own way of things. No matter whether it's eating or scent-marking (especially scent-marking), it's always different. We may never understand the hippos. However, it's so much fun to see what Nature has in store for them.

【紅霞譯文】

        卅天來當首次結束遊輪生活入住博茨瓦納喬貝碼頭酒店下榻之際，我感覺猶如登上月球並在那兒過了一夜，心裡仍然飄忽不定，難怪第二天乘坐喬貝河遊輪巡弋博茨瓦納和納米比亞兩國之間喬貝國家公園時，我眼圈發黑，一副徹夜未眠無精打采的樣子。

        今天下午，我們要花三個鐘頭水上觀賞喬貝河上的野生動物。開船後不久，我們很快發現幾隻河馬，它們時不時浮在水錶換氣，冷不丁也會騰空而起，露出廬山真面目。河馬行蹤不定，我們往往難以預料下回什麼時候才能重見其膘肥體大的魁梧形象。有一次，一隻河馬突現從水中蹦出河面，連同脖子以下大半條身段赤裸裸地暴露在光天化日之下，立刻忙壞了船上遊客，大家紛紛按動相機快門，希望捕捉到如此難得一見的精彩瞬間，可是只有少數人如願以償，媽媽便是其中一位。

        我們順流而去，途中看到越來越多的河馬，除臉面漂浮水上，身體其它部位全部埋在水裡，半天原地不動。久而久之，我們逐漸失去了原有興趣。快要返程時，一隻河馬從水面爬到附近小島，公然在我們眼前拉屎撒尿，棕乎乎、糗轟轟、黏糊糊的糞便狂泄一地，似乎鄭重告示天下，此地老子為大，誰都不許越雷池一步，否則惹得一身騷臭不算，還將拳腳相迎。

        世上萬物各有自個迥然不群的存在方式，甚至連吃的聞的(特別是與氣味相關的)東西也不例外。也許我們無法理解河馬這種動物本能，但絲毫不會影響我們探索大自然內在奧秘的高漲熱忱。