Lenong: Birds of the King

When I was little, my dad and I had nothing to talk about. To me, he was always the quiet weirdo sitting in his office dissecting weird beetles. Yeah, I later learned about the word "entomologist", but I thought he was out of his mind back then. He was never home, always travelling, and as a kid, I did not understand that. To me, he just wasn't there and didn't want to spend time with his family. I was angry for him for years to spend money on his hobby rather than provide us with food.

One time I called him into my room because a weird-looking bug was crawling on the floor. Instead of killing it, my dad took it into a napkin and placed it onto the grass. I, of course, questioned him why would he do that when the animal was so ugly.

'The unappreciated animals need someone to protect them the most,' he said simply and left me outside.

As I grew older, I never forgot his words and got interested in nature, travelling and wildlife. He was going with his friend for expeditions like four times a year, and when he came home, he'd show my brother and I pictures of all these funny-looking animals.

'One day I want to go with you,' I said, and even though he chuckled and didn't reply, I promised myself I'd make him take me with them. I started to learn about different animals, plants, and even beetles so that he'd take my idea to go for an expedition with him seriously.

I can remember the day my dad decided to take me with him so vividly. It feels like yesterday, even though it was a week after my seventeenth birthday, seven years ago. My dad is very awkward and quiet compared to my mum, so I remember that he tried to ask me something, but she wouldn't let him talk.

'She's too young,' I recall her saying, and 'She is a girl! This is not for her.' Even though I had no idea what they are talking about, this always made me mad. I have a six-year older brother, so I always had to be as strong as him and manly.

'I wanna..' I started, but my mum stopped me. 'No,' she said, 'end of the discussion.'

Later that day, my dad came to my room without knocking, which he hasn't done before. He told me his friends and him were going to Uzbekistan in the spring and asked if I wanted to join them.

'Your mum is worried about you, but I think we could convince her,' he said.

I nodded, knowing that after a long convincing, my mother could never say no to me.

And so, after almost a week of pleading and promising and blackmailing and convincing, my mum said yes. Yes! I was about to travel to Uzbekistan. I won't bore you with all the planning and things that needed to be done before that, but let me just say that I never thought I'd take that much time.

The first couple of days there were, at least for me, boring. My dad and his mates were collecting beetles, and I had nothing to do. Yes, I took many pictures of nature, but no exciting animals until day 8. We were on our way up to a tall hill when something moved on the grass.

A baby vulture. Of course, its mother appeared within seconds, but they both stayed at a safe distance. I’ve never seen anything as majestic and beautiful before. We just stood there, staring at each other.

‘Hurry! Take a picture!’ I heard my dad saying, and so, thankfully, I did. Saddly, I was still new to photography and these pictures are not the best.

I could not focus on anything else throughout the rest of the trip and kept coming back to the moment I saw a wild Cinereous vulture with my own eyes. I was lucky enough to see other species of vultures and kept wondering, why are they not afraid of us more. I thought they might feel safe around us because no human is trying to kill them. I was wrong.

When we got back home, I started researching them and was in shock. There are 11 different species of vulture in Africa only, and they clean up 70% of Africa’s carrion. Sadly, the last three decades have seen a 62% decline in vulture populations in both continents, Africa and Asia. Now, most of the vulture species are critically endangered. Their biggest threat, like most other animals, is humans. Some cultures around the globe practice ceremonies where vultures’ bones are used. Their talons are used to give people metaphysical powers. People not only shoot these creatures but mainly poison the livestock to lure the scavengers to feed on them and then die.

Many people find vultures unpleasant, but they are essential for the ecosystem. I, myself, adore these creatures entirely, and I won’t stop fighting for their lives! It pains me to see that people don’t care enough just because they don’t see vultures as the cute and important animals they are. They are majestic creatures, and like any other life on this planet, they should be protected!

In June 2019, 537 vultures were found dead in Botswana, north-east, during one week. After reading that, I had to write a poem about it:

At dusk, a vulture’s silhouette circles on the bloody sky

and then slowly comes closer to the ground

As it sits on top of an elephant’s carcass

partly illuminated by the setting sunlight

it looks around and closes its wings

The vulture walks on the enormous body

finding the thinnest skin

on the elephant’s neck

and sinks its beak in the decomposing flesh

I turn my head to the side not to see

how easily it rips the piece of the meat

but I can still hear the smooth

effortless sound of the tearing skin

The dark red sky turns black

goes from bleeding-out to death

only a blood-freezing cry spreads across the land

A hyena responds in the distance with its bark

as if saying goodbye

but when the echo fades away

everything falls silent under the spell of dark

At dawn, I see two companions

lying on the ground

both bodies resting side by side

in the deserted heart

Both bodies covered with flies

and sanded dust

blown over them in the winded night

A couple of vultures appear

from the sky above the canyon

They land on the ground

and sneak closer to the meal

ignoring their brother

rushing to the elephant

and they all feast

Sharing pictures of vultures and other birds I took was an obvious choice for this challenge. I just hope I managed to convince you that vultures deserve our love and care. Thank you for reading this piece!