Kenya Part 2: Safari Time!
In 2014 I left NYC for an unintentional “second act” as a Pastry Chef and was hired at a Riverfront restaurant in downtown Detroit famous for their desserts. That experience was a real Ludacris “STAND UP” type-gig and the hardest job I’ve ever had. My 12 hour days of physical labor and constant reaching into the hot ovens, left me with the signature forearm burns, common amongst most chefs, acquired like war wounds. Chef life wasn’t for me for a number of reasons and I moved back to New York forever changed. But before I returned, I covered my scars with a full-color giraffe tattoo as a reminder of better things to come on the horizon. A reminder that like a giraffe, I was born to view life with a different perspective - from “the top”. 2023 I found myself in Kenya reliving my entire life's journey looking giraffes square in the neck.
We were picked up in Kilifi at the crack of dawn by the incredible Nakupendakenya Tour Company, led by our driver and Safari Guide, Jackson. When we arrived at the gates, I began to understand just how massive a National Park is. It would be an additional 45 minute drive just to get to our lodge in Tsavo East. We set off into another world as the landscapes revealed endless savannah, acacia trees, colorful birds, monkeys and red clay.
Suddenly, Jackson hooked a sharp left and pointed for us to look at the hippos visible in a muddy pond. “This is very rare” he beamed with pride that he, himself, caught the movement and tiny eyes. There were two! But when those tiny eyes caught US, their MASSIVE heads popped up quickly just long enough for us to shout WHOA.
I’ve seen a hippo before in a zoo, but the sight of a hippo “giving you the eye” to back up, was immediately understood, and we continued our drive to the lodge.
When we arrived, we walked into the open air lobby of our lodge to the sight of a family of elephants drinking from a water hole. WHERE were we? I was gasping at a baby elephant tucking away under its mother in the high noon sun, before we even put our bags in the room - a very good sign of good things to come. We had a delicious lunch of traditional Kenyan food of chicken curry, kachumbari, roti and fresh veggies before our first game drive that evening.
These safari trucks are equipped with ham radios to communicate where the action is amongst the guides (and for safety). Less than a half-hour in, we got a chirp that took us full speed to a spot on the reserve where there were 2 Black Rhinos sleeping. The sight of the heavily armed guards is a bit striking as soon as you realize they are not there to protect you - they are there to protect the rhinos. Jackson let us know that to protect the rhinos the government issued a “shoot on site” law for poachers and laying eyes on these damn-near-dinosaurs, I couldn’t help but feel all political and instantly agreed!
Circling away from the rhinos, we caught sight of a giraffe making its way to the same water hole where the rhinos were sleeping. Jackson watched smiling and said “She must be very cautious and watch for lions”. Surrounded by the rhinos, she would be safer - she just had to make it!
Riding shotgun was Bonnie, who asked “what about the rhinos? They don’t have to watch out for the lions?”
Jackson answered something I will never forget:
“Rhinos are not concerned about.. lions.”
Those words hit my chest like a ton of bricks from the row behind Bonnie.
Here we were, geeked to find the “king of the jungle”, playing The Lion Sleeps Tonight on the bluetooth and holding this mystic that lions are the ultimate predator - When it turns out, rhinos fall asleep at the thought of lions. But just look at a rhino:
If a lion tried to take down a rhino you would need an organized gang of lions who strategized together about how to take it down. The rhino would have to be sick, injured and compromised for that to be a smart idea. There are easier prey, and honestly, taking on a rhino solo wouldn’t end well for the lion.
This is my take: safari is the perfect observation of the “circle of life” and the most true metaphor for the forces of nature in general. Positive vs. negative. Good vs. evil. Every animal is living in its perfect purpose, the exact way God intended. A zebra is uniquely gorgeous, living its best life. A gazelle is one of the most model-looking animals with a stylized tail out of Vogue, living it’s perfect purpose - but they are still being hunted. The only way to survive is to be cautious, alert and seek some form of protection.
This perfect giraffe was going about its day, but moving cautiously, because beauty can not save you. That’s just nature. Hearing Jackson's words, my spirit hit me with “it’s not enough to live your purpose - you are still being hunted”.
Just because you are listening to God, praying and giving Him glory doesn’t mean that your enemies don’t see you too. That’s just nature. You need fortitude and a full armor of protection - and like a Rhino - the thought of your enemies will put you to sleep. This might be “101” but Ephesians 6:10 about putting on the “whole armor of God” came to mind. Because there is a greater job to do, and I’ll be damned if the arrows of the enemy catch me slipping. But remember those armed guards whose whole job it is to shoot on site? I give thanks to my assigned angels, who have my back every time I am out here slipping (often!) to ensure I can move freely. Maybe that’s a metaphor, but it was all TOO real for me.
The Giraffe made it! In between the napping rhinos, the giraffe split its legs horizontally to lower itself, so that she could drink. I’m now embarrassed to write this, but when I first got my tattoo, I would smugly often accompany my explanation with the ignorant quip “have you ever seen a giraffe eat from the ground?” as some sort of self-righteous metaphor. Usually it was followed with a “haha, well, no” but around the 10th time I said that to a person, I googled “do giraffes eat from the ground?” only to be instantly corrected with hundreds of photos of what was now right in front of me. I laughed to myself, because how foolish. Watching the giraffe whip its neck to come up for air to then lean back into the watering hole was another one of nature's lessons. How ingenious - not limiting or restricting. Their very nature makes them capable of more than I ever gave them credit for. Did you know giraffes also nurture and take care of other species' children if they are left alone?
We ended up sighting two leopards, another rarity! The first leopard was chilling by the side of the road which also amazed Jackson. The felines, Leopards and Lions, are the hardest to spot as they often stay pretty hidden obviously as the hunters and as ...cats. We saw families of zebras, plenty more elephants and massive herds of water buffalo who moved like a real gang. Even a few warthogs, and Eva re-named each one Pumba (lol).
That night Molly, Eva and I spent the night on our balconies listening to the loud elephants seemingly talking to each other in total darkness. The stars were brighter than the ones I remembered from the desert and it felt like we were on a different planet. I hate saying that because we were most certainly on earth - but an earth from the movies, from dreams, or from a bedtime story told with an accent I would never be able to see for myself. But it was real, in my face, on earth.
The next day we traveled to Tsavo West and were on a mission to see lions. Nearly 2 hours in, we found a group of them sleeping under a tree. How ironic. We pulled out the binoculars and enjoyed the quiet. It wasn’t until four other trucks pulled up in front of us, we decided to bail to continue the drive. After an exhausting and successful day of rounding out the Big 5, Molly and I explored probably the coolest feature of the lodge, which sat on top of a mountain.
You can hike down from the lodge to the waterhole and come face-to-face with the buffalo in a protected cave-like bunker. There are probably a few hundred stairs that end up tunneling to the bunker with small lookout windows. On the way back up, it became a real hike and the night-bugs were out, naturally, full of dung beetles doing what they do around hundreds of buffalo. On the steep walk up, out the tunnel, Molly bolted into a FULL SPRINT which could have only meant she saw something I didn’t.
They strictly advise you to be damn near silent getting that close to the buffalo, so by the time we hit a landing, ex-cross-country-star Molly stopped with only enough breath to say “oh my god. Did you see that spider!?”
Dung beetles I can do, and even those were Jurassic sized. Had I seen what Molly saw, I probably would have screamed loud enough to start a stampede. I didn’t see anything except Molly take off. My adrenaline carried me up that mountain at a speed I didn't know I could pull off. I did NOT see the spider. And that was enough to call it night.
You always hear people describe safaris as “amazing”, but what’s really happening is that you’re driving. Just driving endlessly in an untouched landscape and it becomes amazing if you can think outside yourself and about how you fit in such a different world. But remember, it IS your world - our shared world with the animals, and even the bugs. I used my time to really get grateful watching the forces of nature behave so naturally. Whatever we’re doing as humans is as natural as the gorgeous animals in Kenya, just expressed through our human nature. Human nature can destroy and at the same time can get us killed. Simultaneously it can also express itself as love and compassion for our fellow man. The contemplative nature of this trip really brought that home, and I’m so grateful I allowed myself to view myself a piece of a world that seems so far beyond my understanding.
I think it’s simpler than we try to make it.