Safari

The first movie I ever saw multiple times in theaters was The Lion King. I've had the soundtrack running through my head for about a week.

When I was about the same age, maybe a few years younger, my grandparents gave me a subscription to Ranger Rick magazine, a magazine for kids devoted to nature and wildlife. Back when I was first dreaming about this trip, the main thing I wanted to see more than anything else was the different animals all around the world.

I was one of those kids that always figured there was a secret alliance between kids and animals, and that if I tried hard enough, I'd be able to talk to them. I had all these elaborate fantasies about the adventures I'd go on, talking to them all. Mostly starting with our cat, Charlotte. Charlotte never seemed very impressed by my attempts, or by my corralling her in with my stuffed tiger, Mark, who I was also sure I'd be able to talk to.

I never pulled off the Doctor Dolittle thing, but my grandmother (among others) would remark that I seemed to have a way with animals, especially cats and dogs. I can read them fairly well, and I still get made fun of by some friends for finding just about any animal kind of adorable.

So you might understand why a three-day safari in the Kenyan side of the Serengeti, the Masai Mara national park, might be kind of a big deal for me.

I won't write too much, I written a lot lately without giving too many pictures. But now that I've got a good camera again, I'm going to let the pictures do most of the talking. Enjoy!

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