In life, it's important to know when to be mature.
I did my best the other day, but sometimes things are just funny, no matter how much they shouldn't be.
It was a slow morning, one of the slowest I'd ever seen, but as the weather cleared out, we were flooded with guests. I was then assigned to a truck where they left me for three and a half hours. HORRIFIC! But some interesting events took place during those three hours. On one round, a white Rhino came up to my truck, put its horn by my front tire and started to rock my truck back and forth, back and forth. Just as I started to get sea-sick, it got bored and walked away. Weird.
A couple rounds later, I saw that the male rhino had his head resting upon the female rhino's rump. The guests thought it was adorable and started to take pictures, but I was concerned. I remembered that Animal Programs had trained us on how to spot the signals animals send to each other before beginning the mating process. I also remembered that this specific rhino action was one of those signals. What would I do if they started to mate in the middle of my safari? Just as I thought this, the male began to mount the female. Fortunately, the female was not in the mood, and she moved away. My guests were laughing their heads off and I let out a snicker or two. I couldn't believe what I'd just seen. I called it in.
The next round, we came around to the same point and the trucks in front of me were stopped. I figured it would be a small delay, so I stopped, put my vehicle into park, and began chatting with my guests. Over the radio I heard that we were stopped for a white rhino. Not a big deal, that was pretty much what I'd been expecting. A few moments later, I heard that all five white rhinos were in the road. ALL FIVE. Kind of a big deal. We'd already been stuck for seven or so minutes at this point. next, I hear this on the radio:
"Reserve Warden from Safari 12."
"Warden by."
"The White Rhinos are breeding."
"10-9?"
"The White Rhinos are breeding...in the middle of the road."
Oh boy, the White Rhinos were making a baby in the middle of the ride path. Big deal.
I gasped into my microphone but tried to regain my composure. The guests in the front row over heard the radio and started to laugh. There wasn't much to do at this point except to sit and wait for Animals Programs to come and do...something. We were stuck there for about 20 minutes. 20 awkward minutes. When we were finally able to get back on the move, we were forced to take an alternated route so we didn't interrupt the rhinos. As it turned out, I was only two trucks behind where the event was taking place and as we turned onto the alternate route, we could see that there was still one truck stuck behind the action, helpless and unable to move. But beyond that truck, blatant and unashamed, were two mating rhinos. I'd never seen anything like it. The male was on top of the female--like rhino Jenga. There was no hiding it, and no changing what we'd seen. That's the circle of life for you. I hurried my chuckling guests away trying to keep my composure, but even I couldn't suppress the laughter. Can you blame me?
Sorry maturity. Maybe tomorrow.
