Kenya

(Dec.13-21) We were given dire warnings by several friends and strangers to be cautious in Nairobi, Kenya. With a nickname like Nai-robby, we had general cause for alarm but we were too excited at the prospect of speaking English again that we were willing to take our chances. Kenya was just a stop over for us on our way to Ethiopia and as a result we only had a week cram in whatever sights we could which for us meant going on a safari. It was significantly cheaper for us to book the safari once in Kenya so we made arrangements to go to the magnificent Masai Mara and lovely Lake Nakuru to see none other than the big five.

As a young child I remember watching the television series, Shaka Zulu, and was completely enamored with Africa. The umbrella-like acacia trees dotting the vast Serengeti with the occasional giraffe and zebra herds roaming around electrified my imagination. My sole reason for joining the Peace Corps and accepting a post in Africa was because of the visions I had of the continent. Africa mystified me. Subsaharan Senegal was not the Africa of my dreams. It lacked the grandeur of my imaged Africa. It was dry, brown and devoid of animals save the stray dog or mangy cat. Touching down on the Kenyan soil I was finally embracing the Africa my heart longed for and it felt good, otherworldly good.

Our visit to Kenya coincided with their rainy season turning the roads from dusty potholes to thick slippery black holes of death. Our driver, nicknamed the Animal, was a master in maneuvering the most impassible and impossible roads. Preferring a two-wheel drive to a four-wheel drive, because the 4WD tend to get stuck and sink in the mud more frequently, the Animal made the drivers in the Dakar Rally look like they were riding on bicycles with training wheels. I can't even explain let alone comprehend how he would rock the van back and forth and bounce out of the mud holes. It was pure genius and we felt honored and a bit terrified to have him as our guide.

The Animal took us for a late afternoon game drive in the Masai Mara where we happened upon a pride of 13 lions resting on a small mound. Before we knew it the mother lion was off on the pursuit of a pregnant wildebeest. Fortunately for us she placed her catch right next to the road so we got to watch as the entire pride feasted on the wildebeest just feet away from our van. The sound of 13 lions eating is without a doubt one of the most frightening and thrilling sounds I have ever heard. To see the chase, the kill and then the feast was truly something special. The Animal explained that it's never as easy as what we witnessed. Lions make a kill and munch in privacy away from the flashing cameras of tourists.

The Animal said that looking out over the Masai Mara game reserve you behold one of the seven natural wonders of the world and I believe him wholeheartedly. To see families of elephants lumbering lazily along in the wild is unreal. We'd come across fields filled with several types of gazelles, wildebeests, zebras, ostriches, giraffes and waterbuffalos and you just couldn't believe that all the animals you see cooped up in the zoo could cohabitate so freely and harmoniously. We even saw two lions lounging up in a tree something the Animal said in his 17 years as a guide he's only seen 3 times. Going on a safari was one of the greatest and most life affirming moments in my life. Truly and experience of a lifetime and even better because I had my best friend next to me marveling in the beauty of my dream, my destiny, my Africa.