Guys. GUYS. I got to go on an AFRICAN SAFARI. For reals.
It was one of THE COOLEST experiences of my life so far.
Since I was a little girl, I had dreamed of going on a real African Safari, I’m sure spurred on by my love and hundreds of viewings of The Lion King, Jungle Book (Live Version), and Jumanji.
My Mom, who loves me enormously, so much so she is willing to sacrifice her own comfort, sent me money to go on this dream trip. A few of my teammates, joined by handful of two other teams, headed out for Maasai Mara on a cold and early Friday morning.
After passing the first herd of zebra, grazing nonchalantly on the side of the road like common deer at home, I knew I was not sufficiently prepared for the surreality of what was to lie ahead.
11 hours, several pit stops, a riot with tear gas, and a delightful little hotel in the middle of nowhere later, early Saturday morning we arrive at the park where we’ll be making my dreams come true. Our driver, Steven, pops the top of the jeep up so we can stand and look out into real life. After 45 minutes of waiting for our passes, we finally pass through gates worthy of Jurassic Park status, and begin the adventure of a lifetime.
What they tell you about safaris: you’ll see TONS of live animals.
What they don’t tell you about safaris: 90% of it will be zebra and wildebeest herds, who incidentally live, eat, drink, and migrate together. I cannot begin to describe the enormity of these herds. There must have been thousands upon thousands that we saw in the first two hours of the journey. I can only say that that scene in the Lion King where the wildebeest stampede to the detriment of Simba’s and also every little girl’s heart is REAL. Not only do they live in those kind of numbers and more, but when we saw them stampeding later, supposedly being chased by a cheetah in the back of the herd, it was like a real-life enactment of the movie.
After the third hour of seeing only zebras, wildebeests, a smattering of tiny antelopes, and the occasional water buffalo herd (at which point in time I sang a resounding chorus of Larry The Cucumber’s hit Everybody’s Got A Water Buffalo), I was ready to see something different, something crazy. And our God, who is tender and sweet to my heart, answered my prayers.
We saw, in no particular order:
elephants and their babies
lionesses snoozing (and this yawning one)
a BOY LION (the one thing I desperately wanted to see, above and beyond anything else)
of course wildebeests
the funniest-looking water buffalo face of all time
zebra herds
herds of giraffes AND zebras
troops of baboons walking down the road, playing and carrying their babies on their backs
hippos floating and yawning in the great Mara River
two crocodiles next to them who seemed to care less that their one natural enemy was lounging yards away from them
a cheetah who snored himself awake under an acacia tree only feet from where our jeep parked
white-bodied and black-faced monkeys eating and swinging through the tree tops
storks who look like they wear suit jackets
vultures eating at the remains of a wildebeest carcass (and then this stately-looking one)
giraffes in the far distance
giraffes eating a tree
and one who saw our jeep, walked out of the brush, and stood right in front of us like a model striking a pose.
We saw towards the end of the day another lioness who sat right beside our jeep and when I purred at her, looked right at me.
We saw impalas with horns that were larger than any I had seen in a zoo
lonely ostriches who walked with their heads near the earth (except for this confidant one)
guinea fowl who resembled what I always imagined dodo birds might look like
hundreds of termite mounds the size of a small car
warthogs that didn’t look or act nearly as friendly as Pumbaa led us to believe they would (hence, no picture)
every kind of deer and antelope you could imagine
a dust devil
and some of the most beautiful landscapes I’ve ever seen.
with some yoga action in there, too
(and in the far distance, you can see a giraffe in the shade of my tree)
I went home the next day knowing what it felt like to have a long-envisioned dream come true. I went home having seen animals I had only dreamed of and, being an enthusiastic and outspoken animal lover, this was one of the most special moments on the Race so far. I am so grateful to have had this experience, and so grateful to my Mother, who makes dreams come true.
