Being on Safari, reflecting on what I anticipate, remembering other such pleasures and adding to my knowledge of God’s creation in this part of the world.
I have been to the Masa Sarova in The Masa Maira in Kenya before; it has come back to me. I even remember rain when I was here, just like today. Rain, however, soothes me, gives me permission to relax and totally unwind.
Getting massages is something quite common for my young friend traveling with me, but in my life they have been few and far between. But today, I scheduled one for tomorrow. My mother was brought up severely affected by the Great Depression, and for the life of me, I can't seem to shake that stamp born into my soul. To add to my conundrum is the pondering I do, especially while on trips like this. I struggle with questions of denying self, accepting good gifts from my heavenly Father, and wondering what is wise, loving and prudent.
At the same time, I feel very loved and pampered by my heavenly Father. Do I think I deserve this rest? I do not think I do; I think I just feel blessed to be able to take in the natural beauty, to be surprised by the thrill of inviting myself into the kitchen of Mr Giraffe while he enjoys his dinner feasting on the sausage tree. I don't want to miss experiences like that, but at the same time, I feel like scheduled game drives might be more than I want at some point the next few days.
We have worked incredibly hard the past 3 weeks keeping schedules from early morning until late at night, not that our experience is unique. Our hosts have worked to make sure that all our meetings went as scheduled, that we accomplished what needed to be done. They have negotiated the traffic, kept our itinerary, arranged impromptu meetings, etc.
And now two days before going home, I can name the animals I saw on DRIVE #1.
We saw in the antelope family, topi, hart beast gazelles, and Grant gazelles,
Of the Big Five, we saw LOTS of elephants. (I’ve even had to refresh my memory of which animals make up the BIG FIVE: there’s the elephant, lion, leopard, cape buffalo and rhino.)
Besides hearing the joyful sound of countless birds, the crow cawing that I associate with Africa, and the cooing of the dove, we saw my favorite, the lilac breasted roller. When it flies, it's not lilac but brilliant turquoise that explodes the sky with it's brilliance.
We learned that elephants only sleep fours hours a day and don't even do that all at once. From the huge elephant which doesn’t look unusually large in the expanse of the savannah to the tiny brown mongoose hard to identify, we got the impression that we didn't touch the surface of the plethora of animals that were probably around us.
Warthogs, with six babies and lots of zebra which could have begun to get boring if not for the secretary birds who enjoy spending time with them. rounded out the animals I identified on the first morning drive. It's not long before we go again.
The animals are making joyful noises to the Lord. All creation is doing what they were created to do; only we mortals contemplate whether to give Him the glory He deserves or rob ourselves of enjoying His constant fellowship. I'll bet you can guess what my prayer for myself is.
Around camp today we saw the dik dik, a member of the antelope family that must know that to get outside the bounds of these fences would spell disaster to their species. How do they know where danger lurks? If only we humans were as alert to danger for our souls as these creatures do.
The afternoon drive of day #1 added Impalas to our antelope family. We saw guinea fowls, which I have heard described as "stupid birds". They do appear to run into harms way but they really are quite interesting to watch with their beautiful blue necks.
Cape buffalo look like they are in the cow family, and to us don't appear to be dangerous enough to warrant being named as one of the Big Five. Maybe I can find out why the hippo avoided that distinction.
Mama lionesses with their young didn't do much to entertain us but it is always fun to see a lion. Hart beasts, Thompson gazelles add flavor to the expanding antelope family, similar but with many characteristics that distinguish them from one another.
In the bird family, we see vultures, I guess waiting to get the scraps from a lion's kill. We have seen a malibou,an Egyptian goose, all interesting, but not creatures to brag about having seen, I guess, unless you consider yourself a real bird watcher. I have been on previous trips and met those who truly go on safari just to see the birds. Through their knowledge and keen eye, I have been introduced to some very unusual birds, one even looking somewhat like a dinosaur.
But really, seeing the two cheetah was a thrill. And then learning from our guide the distinguishing characteristics between them and the leopards. Besides the leopards being nocturnal and far more elusive, the leopards also climb trees which cheetahs don't. Cheetahs have lines coming down from their eyes, and are a brighter color than leopards, which also have much bigger spots on them than cheetahs.
Leopards, rhinos and lions are territorial. I hope we can find the territory of the first two before this adventure ends
Day two greeted us with cool aIr but a warm sun, promising to be a fabulous day. The highlight of the morning drive was more close up shots of roaming elephants, both old and young, AND the apparently full young lion, waking and walking around as though his audience didn't exist. All the pride he keeps company with resting in the shade really didn't know we were there.
The last morning we got to see a cheetah and her baby. If ONLY we hadn’t really wanted to make it to the river for hippo and croc viewings we wouldn’t have missed Mama cheetah giving a live lesson to her young. “This is the way you hunt, little one!” What amused me while I watched was how “childlike” the little one was. He rolled, tumbled while his mama stretched in what looked like a yoga move to me. She seemed unconcerned that he wasn’t vigilante in his observations of her planning maneuvers, for before long, he seemed to catch on and follow along behind her.
After our trip to the river, we did return back to cheetah territory only to watch her feasting on her dinner. It would have been fun to watch the actual hunt, and yet a grim reminder that death of one is necessary for the life of another.
Game drives can be exciting, but they can also become boring if after 2 or more hours you haven’t seen what it is that you were looking for. Getting another vehicle to pull you out of a stuck place can break the impasse, but hearing about others’ sighting of the Big Five only makes you want to add bragging rights to your tales too.
On this Safari, Sarah and I can only claim to have seen 4 of the 5. The leopard, a nocturnal animal, remains the only one we didn’t see. But Lefty assured us that “just one more hour, and I will show you a leopard.” And I have no doubts that he could have.
I’ll save his story for my last posting......... unless I later get another inspiration. ha!
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| Wander if she'll ever wear her safari hat at home? |
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We were in Massai territory when in the Mara. This is one of the
men who worked for the Sarova Mara. Boy, could they jump high
without a running jump! |
When one little boy asked me to work with him even though the cute teens you'll see in these pictures were there, now that made my "yesterday" quite special. Here are pictures of some of those who worked with the children. Yes, one of them is "my GRAND". Now, talk about something special!
Thank you so very much for this wonderful saying in your message that : We want women of purpose all over the world. Pray that in Jackson women want to form chapters to pray for women in Congo. Thank you so much , I will let the women in my Church to know this and be praying for this , for it is a great joy for the women in Jackson to be in touch with the women in DR Congo. Praise His holy name!
Sarah, Yvette, and Lydie also thought it could work in Rwanda.
Back in Kenya we met with EAFC alumni. Three of these women already work in 3 different Nairobi slums. They are excited about brainstorming together, creating sister WOP chapters and then getting together either quarterly or twice a year to learn from one another.
