I am currently reading “Out of Africa” by Karen Blixen (see description in one of the previous posts). I am fully captivated by her amazing use of the language and vivid descriptions of her life in Kenya. She often intersperses here narrative with descriptions of the country’s landscape, the people, and the animals, which led me to ponder on which animal of the ones I saw at the Maasai Mara I would pick as my favorite. While before it was always easy to identify my favorites before (llamas and monkeys in Bolivia, giant turtles at the coast of Mexico), after an in-depth look into my heart, I can say with all honesty that I cannot tell with animal holds the dearest place there. Here is what I like about each:
-Elephant: Karen Blixen says it best: “Here, upon the roof of Africa, wandered the heavy, wise, majestic bearer of the ivory. He was deep in his thoughts and wanted to be left to himself.” What else can I add?
-Giraffe: what can I say, after kissing and feeding a few of them (I have pictures to prove it), big Gs and I have a bond. In all seriousness, it is one of those animals that draw your attention with whatever they are doing. Maybe it is in their somewhat strange looks; maybe it is because they look absolutely friendly and laid-back. I can’t pinpoint why giraffes are so cool, but it is now undoubtedly one of my favorite animals.
-Zebras: they are sooo fun to watch. They are almost always in a herd, playing with each other, rolling on the ground, and, the sweetest thing, lay their heads on each others backs as a sign of affection (or at least that’s what my safari guide told me).
-Lions: all I can say is that I have never come into contact with such royalty. The one male lion I saw on my last game drive on the safari looked at me in such a princely manner that I realized that he truly is the king of the jungle and all around him belongs to him. One of the researchers at the workshop told me that male lions do not hunt; their female harems do it for them. However, if there is danger or encroachment on their territory, male lions come out to defend their kingdoms.
-Leopards: Even though the one I saw was sitting up on a tree, I had a good view of his shining sapphire eyes, which were carefully watching our every move (another gaze that is forever imprinted in my heart). His spotted coat made him look very exotic, and the sight of him (or her) in the tree spoke of its agility and gracefulness (no offense to baby Tai Shan, the panda from the DC Zoo, but the sight of him in a tree only speaks of his cute lazyness and complete relaxation, in sharp contrast to the leopard).
-Rhinos: just as with the giraffes, there is something very unique about this big and somewhat scary looking animal that makes me want to watch it walk slowly about the savannah for hours. And of course, the sight of baby rhino was amazing.
-Hippos: since I have learned at the DC Zoo that this sweet-looking animal is a major killer of people in Africa, I was always curious to see it in the wild. The sight of the hippo pool in the Mara and especially after hearing the sound that hippos make helped me understand why “hippo always wins.” It was really neat so see one of the phatsoes get out of the pool, stand on the river bank for a minute, and then slowly get back in. It also helped ease my anguish for the hippo at the DC Zoo who is confounded to a tiny indoor pool in the winter---the hippos in the wild, even though they have access to a large river, do not really move about in the water; they just sort of chill at the same place, once in a while going under water.
