Encounter with a warthog that refused to move
I took a step forward. She did, too. I took one backward. She took several forward. I back pedaled rapidly.
Her intimidating tusks faced me, as if daring me to come closer. Two piglets grazed near her and, unlike their mother, ignored me totally.
I stood a safe distance away, watching her watching me. A high fence towered on my left. On the right, a wide and deep trench divided the path from the rapid flow of vehicles.
A group of three men approached her from the other side of the path. She gave me a warning look and turned to face them. They chose the traffic and flew over the ditch. I laughed out loud: cowards love company. The men laughed too. They jumped back onto the path when they reached what they thought was safety. It happened to be around where I was standing, still smiling.
Another stranger passed me, walking towards the animals. I hurried after him.
“Aren’t you afraid? I asked.
“No. She won’t do anything.”
Heart pounding, I kept on the far side of the path, walking on the grass verge next to the fence, keeping a little behind and making sure the man remained between me and the warthogs. The mother stood and watched us approach.
“She has children. Doesn’t that make her dangerous to approach?”
“Maybe. But we can still pass safely.”
Still, a few metres away from the mother, the man stopped, picked up a stone and tried to shoo the warthog away. She didn’t budge. Her children jumped onto the road. She, however, lowered her head and I fled backwards. Screeching brakes announced the piglets narrow escape. That sound seemed to break their mother’s resolve and she joined them on the road.
The stranger walked past and I followed quickly.
Once I was a safe distance away, I looked back. The piglets and their mother were back on the path where it had started, chomping away at the grass.
All in a day’s work, I suppose.
If you enter Nairobi National Park through the gate that leads to the Kenya Wildlife Service Headquarters, you will most likely come across families of warthogs walking around the parking area: the animals – and children, too – have the right of way here. The warthogs sometimes go out and investigate what can be found in the surrounding area, which leads to interesting encounters, like the one above.