My takeaway, my memories, my reminiscences of Africa-
The grandeur, the beauty of the landscape was indescribable;
The sounds of birds singing, chirping, whistling in the early morning;
The dew glistening on green leaves of yellow flowered cactus;
The sun setting behind an Acacia tree;
The slow trudging of an in-line family of elephants across a grassy golden field;
A herd of zebra with their tails waving;
The impalas in low light prancing;
Pink flamingos standing on one leg in the rain swollen lake;
The eye trained across a hillside searching for big cats;
A breakfast on safari in the bush of Loisaba;
A guide ready to go at 6.30 am with a sparkle of hope in his eye for big game;
Snow-capped Mount Kilimanjaro rising majestically above the clouds;
The smell of campfire toast and bacon and fried eggs and fresh herbs;
Reading "Out of Africa' to your wife in a director's folding chair
while gazing out on puffy, billowy clouds;
A dinner "al fresco" in the night beside a roaring fire;
Wheeling around a 500 mm super telephoto lens on a mono-pod set to rapid-fire exposures to catch
a giraffe coming into focus among the Acacia trees;
The British accent of your server making you think you just landed at Karen Blixen's farm;
The cool moist air after an evening rain;
The view from an infinity pool riding high above a cliff that looks over the Kenyan plain;
Seeing your Safari Link plane drop from the clouds to a packed red earth landing strip;
A Masai tribal dance; the bright red robes of a Masai warrior;
Baboons with juveniles scrambling up a tree;
A tent camp host exclaiming to a just arrived guest-"Jambo Jambo!"
The first glimpse of mosquito netting bedecking your bed in your tent home;
An outdoor shower taken unclothed with the sun rays streaming through branches above;
The surprise of your guide pointing out a Kory Bustard in a British accent and you thinking he's saying sorry bastard;
Concluding that you just lived the real Garden of Eden somehow impossibly saved for eons of time just for you. I had a trip to Africa and then I was out. These are my memories. I am smitten. I shall return.
In the words of Karen Blixen "If I know a song of Africa, of the giraffe and the African new moon lying on her back, of the plows in the fields and the sweaty faces of the coffee pickers, does Africa know a song of me?"
Douglas Powell
October 14, 2020
