Traveling to Kenya was not at the top of my list. Sure, I wanted to go, but there were
many places I wanted to visit first.
Yet, when I reviewed what the Earth Expedition courses offered, I
decided to give Kenya a try.
Originally, I had wanted to spend my third and final Earth Expedition
(EE) in Thailand or Mongolia. The
dates for Mongolia did not work with my teaching schedule. I had traveled to India the year
before on an EE that focused on spirituality, so I decided to list Thailand as
second choice. I wanted to explore
how Kenyans were managing wildlife and human development. Also, I wanted to see big animals in
the wild that I had seen only in zoos.
One of my favorite moments on the trip was the dawn hike
with the Eco Scouts in Amboseli. I
loved walking with the scout, John, who taught me so much about tracking and
how animals like hyenas and giraffes coexist. He asked me what kind of large mammals we have in California and was nonplussed to find that mountain lions and bears are our largest mammals. I remembered the elephant seals, and told him about the great, tusked sea mammals. He was very excited about the news of the elephant seals.
I didn't expect to be enthralled by hyenas. I don't think I had even considered hyenas when thinking about Kenya. Very early on, I became somewhat fascinated by them.
Another of my favorite moments occurred at dawn as well. I think dawn in another place, or even at home is a serene and special time, and in the Maasai land in and around Olkiramatian dawn is magical - at least the few I experienced were. Actually, there were two dawn events that caused me to feel almost spiritual. The first dawn was the baboon count. I loved walking along with Cisco while he described his observations of the baboons. Along with the rest of my group, we watched the babies frolicking, teasing, chasing, and taunting one another.
The second spectacular dawn was the lion tracking morning. I loved waking up before everyone else, and leaving the camp, heading to the place where Guy and the scouts thought the lioness and her cub might be. Guy drove the land rover while looking out the window at the ground in search of tracks. The sun was rising, and we were waiting to her the word "simba" as we groggily and quietly ambled along the savannah. When we found the lioness, Brad and Laura and I thought she was dead because her legs were stiffly pointed upward as she lay on her back. Also, she looked very bloated. Soon after spotting her, she stretched and Guy pointed out that she had blood on her chin. The bloating and stiff legs were just the lioness sleeping off a successful kill.
I didn't expect to be enthralled by hyenas. I don't think I had even considered hyenas when thinking about Kenya. Very early on, I became somewhat fascinated by them.
Another of my favorite moments occurred at dawn as well. I think dawn in another place, or even at home is a serene and special time, and in the Maasai land in and around Olkiramatian dawn is magical - at least the few I experienced were. Actually, there were two dawn events that caused me to feel almost spiritual. The first dawn was the baboon count. I loved walking along with Cisco while he described his observations of the baboons. Along with the rest of my group, we watched the babies frolicking, teasing, chasing, and taunting one another.
The second spectacular dawn was the lion tracking morning. I loved waking up before everyone else, and leaving the camp, heading to the place where Guy and the scouts thought the lioness and her cub might be. Guy drove the land rover while looking out the window at the ground in search of tracks. The sun was rising, and we were waiting to her the word "simba" as we groggily and quietly ambled along the savannah. When we found the lioness, Brad and Laura and I thought she was dead because her legs were stiffly pointed upward as she lay on her back. Also, she looked very bloated. Soon after spotting her, she stretched and Guy pointed out that she had blood on her chin. The bloating and stiff legs were just the lioness sleeping off a successful kill.
