My Trip to Africa

            The trip I took to Kenya the summer after 7th grade was perhaps the best experience of my life.  The trip was a Bar Mitzvah present from my grandpa.  Our journey began on June 28th, 2001.  We had a six hour flight to London where we had a sixteen hour layover before our eight hour flight to Nairobi.  We stayed in Africa for two weeks.  The trip was mesmerizing.  The exotic wild life and unique culture changed the way I looked at the world.  It was unlike anything I’d ever seen before in my life.  Animals I’d only seen in zoos and on TV were now roaming freely only inches away from me.  The lodges we stayed in had signs warning us to keep our doors and windows locked because if we didn’t baboons would break into our cabins and steal our food.  It was the first time I ever had to worry about being robbed by a monkey.

            The first day we went out on safari we were astounded by the vast open plains filled with Zebras and Gazelles.  However, as time passed the antelopes became as common as cows here at home, we saw them all day every day so they lost their significance in a sense.  It got to the point that we were only interested in seeing predators, and we only wanted to see another antelope if it was being eaten by a predator.  Fortunately we were able to see all of the big cats of Africa: lions, leopards and cheetahs.  This is very unusual on one safari.

            The highlight of our trip was the “kill.” It was July 6th and we were on our way back to camp when saw a group of Thompson gazelles and what appeared to be some other sort of animal sitting on a rock paying very close attention to the group of gazelles.  Surely enough it was a Cheetah. We got as close as we could and we waited.  The Cheetah slid off of the rock and began creeping toward the gazelles.  The gazelles saw the cat and ran, but the Cheetah had already isolated one, and she had already given chase.  Keep in mind both these animals are capable of running at speeds over 60 miles per hour (the gazelle tops out at about 65 mph and the cheetah tops out at about 75 mph) making the chase breathtaking.  Given her superior speed, it was no surprised that the Cheetah caught and killed the gazelle. My shock came later when we drove up to the Cheetah and the dead Gazelle and discovered that the Cheetah was pregnant.  Not only was she pregnant but she appeared to be extremely malnourished.  As it turned out she hadn’t been seen in the park for three weeks and was presumed dead.  The chase itself as well as all the information we received from the natives quickly turned a dull day of watching zebras standing around into one of the most memorable days of my life.

            I expected to be fascinated by the animals of Africa.  However, I was totally surprised by the fact that I found the native people fascinating as well.  They were unlike anybody  I’ve ever come across.  We encountered representatives of many tribes and all were genuinely nice people with no hidden agendas.  They have no money and few possessions and they live in houses made out of cow dung,  yet they are not poor.  African people have an great appreciation for nature and find use for everything around them.

            Many of the Africans we met had been educated in British schools and worked as guides or in the hotels.  As low key as these people seemed, they were highly intelligent and loved to share their knowledge of their country.  An extremely memorable part of the trip was our visit to a Maasai village.  This tribe lives much the same way they have for centuries.  Their economy is based on herding and selling cows.  In fact, the cows are sacred and live in the dung huts with their masters.  The young men train as warriors from the age of eight and I was able to spend time with them.  They were particularly interested in the baseball I had brought and I actually found myself having a catch in Kenya with a Maasai warrior.  Of course, he threw like a girl.

            One particularly significant experience in Africa became significant a few months later when the World Trade Center was bombed on September 11th.  I visited the site of the American embassy bombing in Nairobi.  The building had been left as it was after the bombing as a monument to the lives that were lost.  It was certainly a sad experience to stand by the ruins but just a few months later it seemed almost like a warning of what was to come. 

            My trip to Africa was extremely exciting and meaningful.  Seeing the Animals in their natural habitat, hunting and roaming free was a once in a lifetime opportunity.  I developed a great respect for tribal cultures.  Finally, the image of the bombed embassy is still in my head reminding me that even a land as beautiful as Africa is endangered by terrorism.