The Elusive Jaguar

Ever since setting foot in Guyana I have been longing to see a jaguar in the wild, at a safe distance, of course. I have seen their footprints nearly everywhere: under our dorm, on the trail to Bethany or Mashabo, elsewhere around campus, taunting me. I have even heard stories of jaguar sightings, walking down the trail a little ahead of one of the villagers, up in a tree in the jungle, and various other locations. Yet somehow these beautiful cats have remained elusive to my fovea centralis.

There are several of us in this little jungle clearing, who are intent on spotting a “tiger” as the locals refer to them. We have threatened to camp out on the airstrip, where we see their tracks repeatedly, or jokingly suggested using Lulu, the campus dog as bait to attract them into view. But so far, none of us have been in the least bit successful. In fact many times it seems as though we are alone in the jungle, with only birds, monkeys, lizards, a multitude of unique, and sometimes loathsome, insects, and the occasional tropical rodent or small mammal. I feel entirely safe wandering the jungle, sometimes even at night (for which I have been properly chastised by my dear mother=)

Yet after 6 long months of eagerly watching and waiting to view the big beautiful cat, I am still waiting and hoping…

Then, one night when least expected, it happened. I was lying in my bed, in that hazy grey expanse between wakefulness and sleep, when suddenly a voice jolted me awake “Liz, wake up, they just saw a jaguar!” Suffice it to say that I rapidly exited my bed, and attempted to untangle myself from my mosquito net without further prodding. There stood my sister, in an excited voice, telling me a tale of a jaguar sighting that yet again I had missed.

It seems that this particular evening, after our staff meeting, where one item of discussion was our broken pump and our hive of bees sitting serenely on top, two of the male staff members decided upon a plan, they would venture down to the creek in the dark mantle of night to move the bee hive while the bees were slumbering. Although this sounded like a curious spectacle to behold, I decided that my pillow took precedence after a long day, so I hastened back to my humble abode for the night. After I left, the troops convened for counsel before heading down to the creek and the waiting bees.

As they trudged down the hill toward the creek, pushing their way between the branches of jungle bushes, they heard an odd sound. It could only be described as a grunting snarl, and they quickly swung their light in the direction of the sound. There in their flashlight beams, only 20 yards away, stood a jaguar, his eye flashing back green in the light.

As soon as they caught sight of him they quickly decided that the bees could wait for another day, especially when he growled again and began walking toward them slowly. These two young men turned on their heels and began walking rather quickly back in the direction from whence they had come. They returned from the creek laughing loudly and telling their story…a story that I had to chide myself for missing.