We travel a lot with our kids. We’re big fans of the National Parks and of
exploring natural wonders in other countries as well.
We loved visiting Yellowstone and seeing the fields of bison
along with the hordes of other visitors, playing in the tide pools with other
families at Acadia National Park in Maine, and hiking the Fiery Furnace at
Arches National Park with a park ranger and two dozen other people. All of those were fun experiences we will
carry with us for the rest of our lives.
But I must admit, some of the more interesting, exciting and
unusual experiences we’ve had on our trips have been at night. Yes, that’s right. Just when everyone else around us is turning
in, we’ve had some of our more thrilling encounters.
At Sequoia National Park in California, a sunset drive
through the picnic grounds put us up close and personal with a very large black
bear. As we drove through, we spied it
sitting on its butt right next to the parking lot chowing down on what looked
like pine combs. When we pulled to a
stop right near it and rolled down our windows to grab some photos, it paused
for a moment to check us out. After
seeing that we weren’t a threat and weren’t going to chase it from the picnic
ground, it went right on back to doing what it was doing. We spent a good 10 minutes watching it up
close before it got bored and moved on.
At Tortuguero Park on the East coast of Costa Rica, we went
on a night walk with a ranger down to the beach. It was a warm, moonlit night and our way was
illuminated by only a red-tinted lamp carried by the ranger. At first, Rudolph and Holly weren’t sure they
liked being on the beach in the darkness.
But soon, we arrived at what we came there to see – the giant sea
turtles would emerge from the sea, shimmy their way up the beach, dig deep
holes and then lay their eggs. There in
the red-tinted light, we watched as hundreds of golf-ball sized eggs were
emitted from a single seat turtle. When
the laying was completed, the turtle used its flippers to swat at the sand violently
to bury the eggs. Once satisfied the
eggs were sufficiently covered, the turtles would rest for a while to gather up
the energy to return to the sea until the eggs were ready to hatch. To this day, my kids still talk about this
experience as if we were guest stars on an Animal Planet show. It was hard to believe that we were really
there, in the moonlight, witnessing what we had witnessed.
At Tarangire National Park in Tanzania, we were awakened in
the middle of the night by the sound of very heavy footsteps near our
tents. We were staying in a tented camp
that night. The canvas walls were fitted
with screened windows which were covered by canvas flaps for privacy. I rolled over in my cot and just as I pulled
the canvas flap back to survey the situation, two large legs walked right past
my window. Those legs happened to belong
to a giraffe. I rolled off my cot onto
the floor and crawled over to Rudolph’s cot and rustled him from a sound
sleep. For the next hour, he and I sat
silently by the window watching three giraffes in the moonlight as they ate
from the trees around and over our tent.
One of our coolest experiences ever.
The last example I’ll site (and there are plenty more) came
from just last night. Because of flight
delays, we arrived in Everglades National Park late in the day. We grabbed some dinner at a local Cuban place
and then instead of retiring to our hotel for the night, we driving into the
park in the dark. We met a group that
was heading out for a 45 minute starlight walk with a ranger to go looking for
birds, frogs and alligators in the dark.
It was a full moon so we only rarely needed the flashlights we had
brought. And the walk did not
disappoint. Shortly after starting the
walk, a giant Blue Heron swooped down from above and landed in a tree not far
from where we stood. A 5 or 10 minutes further
out on the elevated walkway put us within about 6 feet of an alligator rolling
around in the water. Sure we could have
seen other gators in the daylight. But
being there, at night, in the moonlight, with the ranger and a few others, we
were able to experience something special that I know we’ll remember forever.
So if you ever find yourself in one of these places, instead
of turning in early with a cocktail or a book, consider whether there are
opportunities to experience something special in the darkness.
Thanks for reading.
- Frosty
