How A Safari in Kenya Changed Me

<p>The day before I left on a long-planned, dream trip to Kenya, a blogger friend sent me a bon voyage message. In part, it read:</p> <p><em>Let it change you.</em></p> <p>Indeed it has, in ways I&rsquo;m still discovering.</p> <p>A wildlife enthusiast my whole life, a former docent who once led tours at the Los Angeles Zoo, I&rsquo;d dreamed for decades of seeing the astounding animals of East Africa &mdash; especially the large mammals &mdash; in their own habitat instead of in captivity.</p> <p>Now, after two weeks of visiting four major Kenyan game reserves and two of its lakes, traveling in between on roads that ranged from truck-clogged single-lane highways winding through mountains to bone-rattling jeep tracks (&ldquo;the African massage,&rdquo; our driver said), I am still processing all that I saw and experienced.</p> <h2>It&rsquo;s not easy to put into words</h2> <p>Most of the animals I saw on safari are ones I&rsquo;ve seen in zoos: elephants; the big cats (lions, cheetahs, leopards); antelope and gazelles (impala, Thompson&rsquo;s gazelles, waterbucks, eland, topi); Cape buffalo; and troupes of baboons, vervet monkeys, and the spectacular colobus with their black coats festooned with long, white fringe.</p> <p>I beheld ostriches, herds of wildebeests, and so,&nbsp;<em>so</em>&nbsp;many zebras. Tiny dik-diks darted through the brush while doe-eyed gerenuks stood upright on their slender hind legs to reach the tops of their favorite bushes.</p> <p><a href="https://medium.com/on-reflection/how-a-safari-in-kenya-changed-me-12bc3caf502b">Read More</a></p>
Tags: Safari Kenya