Dassie lookout

A little place by the sea! The dream of many.

Those living here may enjoy and appreciate their good fortune, while sometimes, incongruously entertaining other dreams. As we know, cravings of the heart fluctuate from zero to filling the city hall. People hanker for variety, repos ailleurs says rest is elsewhere, the heart knows its longings in every place on earth.

That’s the human take on the subject. Dassies or klipdassies, the rock hyrax, may be in similar pensive mood when acting out the empty stare; or dassie world may include quirky mental dimensions unknown to people.

Living here among boulders and crevices by the sea and all over the place to the Drakensberg, the dassies are close to us but closed to us until the United Nations of Mammals starts translation services.

Reduction in dassie numbers close to human settlements is notable near the bigger South African towns, but photos like this are still common along the Hermanus coastal paths. Later, we could find that out of sight is out of mind as far as the dassies are concerned.

Watching wave movement while smelling the salty air is shared dassie and human habit. Appearing to be in solitary sentinel mode, we might think its mind is probably in neutral, perceptions not yielding much to activate a neuron.

Mental activity down to savouring a restful mood is the commonly used low gear of human wading through solitude by the seaside. Recognising body language in a fellow creature may serve to enhance bonding between people and this partner sharing earth.