Collage of Life

Collage of Life
What you can see...

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Epiphany

Today marks the 14 day count down for our 2011 African Adventure.  Since we have so much time before the new adventure begins, I have tried to relate how the previous safari adventure from 2007 unfolded.
I talked about the NgoroNgoro Conservation area and how it is a unique habitat.  We spent two nights at this lodge and two entire days exploring the caldera.  The first night there we were treated to a local tribal dance troupe who performed the Masai dances for us.  There were 8 young women and 12 young men who were very good dancers.  They were sharing their cultural heritage with all of us and I felt very honored to see their passionate dancing.  The ladies dance with a motion that somehow bounces their collar beads up and down their necks.  The men dance by jumping vertically, each one trying to outdo the height of the previous dancer.  In all, the effect was dazziling.  The colors of their costumes and jewelry were bright and shiny.
Our days were spent entirely down in the caldera.  We saw crowned cranes looking very hip with their head feathers like punk rockers.  We saw gazelles, osterichs (male and female...the males are very pink!),buffalo, zebra, wildebeests (these do not migrate), jackals, and lions. 
Our second day in the crater was the most memorable time of our entire trip.  I hope I can do it justice in writing.  We were slowly cruising down a dirt path when we saw three male lions resting close to the road.  Yusef said he believed they were young brothers, keeping together as their own pride.  The sun was shining and it was beginning to get warm.  Then one of the lions slowly stood up and headed directly to us in our open 4 X 4.  What was he doing?  Yusef said to be very still.  He kept coming closer until he found the skinny shade right next to our rear tire.  Once he laid back down, a second lion stood and followed him to our vehicle's shade, laying down directly underneath the open back seat window.  The third lion, seeing this, also came and laid next to the front tire.  These were wild lions!  They were within touching distance!  We were holding our breath for a few seconds.  What do you do now?  Yusef said, "Mind yourself."  We looked at each other and then turned to watch the lions so close you could touch them.  At that moment, Richard and I both locked eyes with a lion.  We looked at each other deeply, it is hard to describe other than saying if felt like our souls touched.  They were calm, enjoying the cool shade and watching us as we watched them.
These few moments lasted a good 15 minutes until others came by to see the lions and Yusef  made the decision to put the vehicle in neutral and let it coast away before starting the engine again.  We were so awe struck, we felt something so dramatic had occured.
In the dictionary, Epiphany is described as "a sudden manifestation of the essence or meaning of something."
That evening we were still overcome with the emotion of those moments.  We decided that we had experienced an Epiphany of sorts.  We had communicated with the King of the Beasts on some level that we never knew existed.  This experience has changed us and we are better for it. 
It was good fortune to have taken some pictures of these three brothers and printed them in a large size to hang on our wall at home.  Now we are going to study those pictures before we leave to go back to NgoroNgoro so we may be able to recognize the lions if we see them again.  They will probably not be together, but grown adults on their own with their own prides by now.  I sure hope we can find them.  I will let you know!

No comments:

Post a Comment