The Glory and the Folly

June 18, 2003

The students left for school on Friday at noon. They weren't due back until Monday afternoon, so it meant a long weekend. In the states, we could go camping in Tyler, or go to Six Flags, or hit the pool.

In Africa, you can drive just a few hours, and go to the largest game park in Kenya. We left about 7:15am on Saturday and arrived around 1:30pm. It was about 120 miles away. Even with a thirty minute rest stop, why would it take so long?

The answer is that the road to Masai Mara is one of the worst in Africa. You spend five hours jarring your body and ruining your car to arrive at ten thousand miles of unspoiled undeveloped country. It is so spectacular that any words do it an intense disservice.

They have several different camps within the park, but the signage is so limited that we were grateful we were going with friends who had been there before. We were staying in a tented camp, but one look at the dynamic duo and they decided, for reasons unknown, to put us in a cabin.

We went out after lunch for our first drive, and we saw a herd of Thompson & Grants gazelles, and about a hundred of them began running. They can leap distances of 20-30 feet. As they ran in front of us, we felt like we were in the middle of National Geographic.

Just a little later, we saw some giraffes that had arranged themselves in ways we hadn't seen before.

We were all in the same room, and this was a thrill for the babies. They were so excited that they managed to change beds every few minutes. I had the following discussion with Katie:

Katie: Daddy up?

Me: Momma's sleepers, J.T.'s sleepers, Matthew's sleepers, Bubba's sleepers, and Daddy's sleeper's. Time for Katie to go sleepers.

Katie: (Two minutes later) Daddy up?

This went on and on into the night. It was a long one.

The next morning, we saw three cheetahs walk right in front of our car. It is a wild place, and we have never seen a patrol car. In Kijabe, the police don't have money for gas in their vehicle. I don't know if it is the case at the park, but if your car broke down, you wouldn't expect help right away. And if you got out, you would be eaten.

That second night, the babies were tired and slept well. The problem was the mosquitoes, and they made the night miserable. As I head out in a month to my 30^th high school reunion, the prospect of looking like I was broken out with pimples cheered me immensely; perhaps they will cover the wrinkles.

On our last morning, we were doing some serious off-roading, and went near a small bush near grass the height of our car. When we looked carefully, we saw a large lion that moved when Katie yelled. His head was bigger than her whole body.

As we were leaving the park, we saw a leopard in a tree with a fresh kill; the victim was dripping. As we watched, it jumped out of the tree in front of our car and walked into the bush with its food.

There is nowhere in America you could experience nature like this. It is the most magnificent place you can imagine.

The puzzlement was when we left, and drove the horrible roads back to Kijabe. This is the biggest tourist attraction in Kenya, and you can't easily drive there. The roads are so atrocious. Why would you allow this happen to a national treasure?

There is so much about this place that makes no sense to me at all. I wonder about it, and I wonder how much I am like Africa: What are the treasures in my life that I don't recognize and don't protect?

Your Pal,

Steve