my safari
At the end of february our film crew was able to go on a safari in the masai mara wildlife park in kenya. A childhood dream fulfilled in my own day. Who would have thought. It was an amazing day. We saw everything there is to see except for rhinos, which are rare in the Masai Mara.
I think artists hope, when someone reads their work, to make impact, to capture the imagination of the heart, stun the mind, punch with humor. It feels good when a passage that you've written, that means something to you also means something to someone else. Out there, I tried to imagine God, what it felt like at all our oohs and ahs, our excited looks out the window, our rapid-fire trigger fingers on our camera's. From the black and white stripes, to impossibly long and graceful necks, exotic patterns printed on organic hides, perfect cubs emitting high pitched growls, God was at his best. For me, the safari was a celebration of creativity.
photo: giraffes, quickly becoming my favourite animal.
photo: guards with machine guns accompianied us to the waterside to watch the hippos. the river created a natural border between kenya and tanzania. there is a history of tanzanians crossing the river, killing game such as hippos, and kidnapping unspecting tourists. we were thankful for the guards and their guns, and for the elusive water cows which lazily exhaled air and lounged on the banks.
photo: we arrived on the scene soon after the lioness had taken down her kill, a wildebeast. we could hear her panting between intervals of dragging the dead animal across the plain. she made slow progress, and by the time we left, had a long way to go before she reached the outlining bush.
photo: a group of zebras finding shade under a tree.
photo: at the end of the day, we did some filming at a Masai village. Young 'warrior' boys, performed a traditional tribal dance, celebrating the kill of a lion, a right of passage for any boy into manhood. the warriors jumped in the air, hummed and chanted a throaty melody, and occasionally emitted high pitched chants. after the dance we spent some time chatting. the guys were all huge football fans, and like us, had watched the arsenal/real madrid match the night before. they were manchester united fans, but think roberto carlos is the best defender in the world. if you look closely on this warrior's sword sheat, you'll notice some canadian stickers. i handed them out as a thank you for their performance, and all quickly stuck them to their swords. i'm interested what visiting tourists will think when they see the stickers in the future. a little bit of canada shared with the Masai.
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. words and images copyright © andrew kooman 2006 .