DAY SIXTEEN

Rose colored air, bird songs, the wide open planes of the Maasai Mara and roads of red dirt fill my senses,  while a family of baboons  compete for my brains attention.  I shut my eyes tight.  My first day on the Serengeti and I am unable to breathe through my nose.  My bones ache, I’m lightheaded and sweaty from the heat of a fever and all I want to do is curl up in bed and sleep.   Yet I’m bouncing around in a jeep, staring out the window as the Mara sprawls in front of me.  From this distance, everything appears still and silent, but as we drive down the red plank of dirt, I can’t take my eyes from two vulture, defying gravity as they hoover above something hiding under some brush.  I find them both appalling and beautiful.   The car creeps along, staying on the designated path until we reach the Mara river.

It is this river that draws the Wildebeests to their death as they slide down the steep riverbed slopes into the jaws of crocodiles.  but today, we are lucky, very lucky to see a family of elephants crossing.  After sitting for about a half hour watching the elephants, Emmanuel heads across the open plains to the herds of zebras and impalas.

It is a humbling experience, looking across the great savannah and sighting the animals that have roamed free for thousands of years.  The Maasai are also a part of the landscape, for this park allows them to continue to graze their cattle.

Although the animals have little interest in the jeeps that dot the landscape, we are on the lookout for a group of cars off in the distance, for they must have spotted something interesting.

Emmanuel is an expert spotter and he soon sees a lion scoping out a lioness, hidden behind a bush.  It’s difficult to make her out for she blends in so well with the colors of the land.  We are so close I could reach out my hand and touch her.  The urge to step out of the jeep comes over me.  Why, I can’t explain.  Perhaps it’s that the animals seem so dis-interested in us that I think they would ignore me.  When I say this aloud, Emmanuel turns his head slightly.  He seems not to be listening to me as he runs his hand over his head where it is shaved as is the tradition for Maasai men.  He takes his time to speak.  “Betty,” he says at last, his voice sounding weary, as if he has repeated this talk numerous times to the many people he has taken on safari, “the moment you put one foot out the door, the lion that appears so disinterested will pounce on you within seconds and will have torn your foot off.

I turn red and breathe out like I do when I’m embarrassed.

The late afternoon sun is casting a faint light across the landscape as we all watch the lion creep forward towards the lioness.

I am ready to crawl into bed and do so after we return to the hotel.  Linda orders me room service and I eat a bowl of vegetable soup as images of the animals I saw float through my mind.    I will dream of them, although I feel as if I have been in a dream all day.                     ,