Ghosts in the darkness

I awoke the other night in the wee hours before dawn. It was extremely bright due to our moon waxing towards full. My bare feet padded silently to the window on the cool cement floor. I looked out upon a large grey body. I had to soften my vision to see her clearly, so closely did the grey and brown and stripes of her coat blend into the bushes behind her. A female greater kudu. She nibbled in the leaves. Her great pink ears swiveled, tuning in to everything around her. I walked to the next window and there were three more, including a huge, spiral-horned male. I left the bedroom and walked down the hall, passing a window with two more kudus on the other side. One saw or sensed me and sprang over a jumble or rocks, but it quieted back down quickly when no threat materialized. Each window I went to looked out over these huge shaggy beasts. I watched them place their unusually small feet exactly in a direct register walk, where the hind foot moves into the exact position of the front foot and registers on top of it. This is one of the characteristics we look for in antelope that spend a lot of time among the trees and brush. Careful walkers, we call them. In this way, they minimize their noise and any disturbances that they create. Like ghosts in the darkness, they glided over the sand from tree to tree, nibbling leaves in the moonlight as I watched. In the sunrise, only their tracks and signs remained.

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