VICTORIA FALLS, Zimbabwe – Are that big-mouthed, loud-larynxed hippo’s tonsils pink? Or is it just the setting sun reflecting off the water into its face?
We are not going to get close enough to find out. Sure, this is one of those creatures that seemed so lovable as portrayed in Walt Disney’s “Fantasia,” decked out in tutus and gavotting sweetly to the “Waltz of the Flowers.” However, . . . . However, you do not want to cruise up to massive chinside to check tonsils by applying a tongue suppressor and coaxing, “Say aaahhh, please.” No. When a hippo snorts, “Aaahhh!” as this one is doing without any prompting, it shivers the timbers of any foolishly really-up-close boat, and threatens passengers’ eardrums, at the least. continue reading »
February 26 2000 | Zimbabwe | No Comments »
REKERO CAMP, KENYA – Africa is still here.
Profound, huh? But I had been wondering and worrying.< “You could have looked at a globe and figured that out,” my friend Aurelio says, rolling her eyes as we tramp through the bush alongside admirable guide Ron Beaton. Rolling their eyes at the sight of us, two giraffes decide to move farther away. Peering from behind trees, disembodied necks extending above waves of greenery, they seem a couple of displaced Loch Ness monsters. What I mean is that the reappearance of the East African wilds in my life is heartening, gladdening, comforting. I had been apprehensive about this safari encore, 35 years after a marvelous Hemingwayesque excursion through Tanzania’s hinterland. In fact it was led by a genuine Hemingway, the youngest son of author Ernest (“The Green Hills of Africa,” “The Snows of Kilimanjaro,” etc.) Hemingway. continue reading »
February 23 2000 | Kenya | No Comments »
WEIGA, KENYA - Brrriiinnnggg!
Wha? Huh? . . . My head bobs from the pillow, gonging like a belfry. Where’s the fire? Brrr-iiinnnggg!
There it goes again: the alarm bell. My watch says 3 a.m. A groggy rendition of an ancient lyric – “It’s 3 o’clock in the morning . . . we’ve danced the whole night through” – fox-trots across my neural mush. No, no, no. No more brain-dancing, please. Must doze this one out. continue reading »
February 22 2000 | Kenya | No Comments »
ALONG THE MARA RIVER, KENYA – Going . . . going . . . however, not quite gone are Rakita and his kind.
Downsized, to use a word he would not recognize, but, thankfully, not yet down and out is this good-humored, fearless little guy’s self-reliant way of making a living: hunting and gathering. As an H & G specialist of the dwindling Ndorobo tribe, he may not know he’s on the endangered list (though, aren’t we all?), or talk about lifestyle and getting ahead. As to quality of life, he frowns as the question is translated into Swahili for him. Then he laughs, crinkling his weathered ebony face, and says it’s just fine. He’s alive after 40 years. continue reading »
February 22 2000 | Kenya | No Comments »
MASAI MARA, KENYA – It isn’t quite “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” Breakfast at Wimbledon, the Ritz, or the Four Seasons. Not “The Breakfast Club,” breakfast in bed, or any of the other celebrated references to the first grub of the day. Wheaties, the Breakfast of Champions, is not being served. Nevertheless, these two diligent noshers at 8 a.m. look like heavyweight champs to me. continue reading »
February 21 2000 | Kenya | No Comments »
LEWA DOWNS, Kenya – Ain’t love grand. Or maybe grandstanding in the case of a nose-heavy bird called the redbilled hornbill, a take-out messenger on a mission of nutrition to his lady love.
“There he goes with lunch in his crop,” says Phil West. “He’ll fly to the nest and regurgitate it into his mate’s mouth. Is that personalized room service or what?”
“Hornbill-and-coo, huh? Dancing beak-to-beak. Romantic, I guess,” says my friend, Aurelio, looking my way. “But please don’t try it on me.” continue reading »
February 19 2000 | Kenya | No Comments »
ABERDARE NATIONAL PARK, Kenya – Tiger Woods will never be called on for this shot. But a wandering Texan named Bill Evans is undaunted by the high-and-mightily-mobile hazard in front of the green at the fourth hole.
“What club would you like to clear that giraffe, sir?” asks Evans’s caddy – me.
“I think the 10-iron will do it just fine,” Bill says. continue reading »
February 16 2000 | Kenya | No Comments »
LEWA DOWNS, Kenya – The view from the swimming pool, which hangs on the lip of the Isiola Valley, is, shall we say, elephantine. Across the gap, on the faded green and ecru slope, there are so many dark gray elephants wandering about that they could hire out as symbolic extras at the forthcoming GOP convention.
Call it Republican Ridge, although that might offend the resident mammoths since they’re smarter than most of us. Maybe because they’ve been around longer. They’re also more peaceful. That’s not to say they don’t get riled or aren’t troublesome. continue reading »
February 16 2000 | Kenya | No Comments »
