One Piece of Africa

We just returned from a long weekend in Laikipia, an area just north of the Kenyan Equator and in the shadow of Mount Kenya. Rose has a friend with an enormous piece of land out there. It’s basically a private game reserve that doubles as a sheep and cattle ranch. I don’t know how to describe the size of this piece of property, except by saying that it includes an entire set of hills, several valleys, and about 3,500 zebra. You can drive for hours on end and still not cross half the property.

It’s absolutely enormous.

Like I said, it has hills and valleys. And plains and forests and meadows and cliffs. It has dams and cattle pens and houses and barns. It has roads and paths and electric fences. And it has giraffes, elephants, zebras, lions, antelopes, gazelles, impalas, baboons, leopards, cheetahs, buffalos, monkeys, warthogs. You name an east African animal, and my guess is that it might be there. Except for hippos and rhinos, I think.

I saw lots of animals. And it was so cool hiking through the hills alongside them. To my disappointment, we didn’t see any big cats while we were out there. Though we did see very fresh lion prints, and we then proceeded to track the lion on foot along with our guide and our ranger. We did not find it.

There was a massive herd of elephants in the valley near the main house. The first day we saw them from the hill overlooking a dam. The second day we saw them crossing the plains through the valley. The third day we hiked into the valley to see them up close. Now, when I heard that we were going to see the elephants, I figured we would see them actually up close. I did not realize how much of a threat elephants can pose to humans. I guess they like to charge and attack, if people get too near. So our getting close to the elephants meant walking along, but always making sure to keep a distance of at least half a football field. I was a bit bummed. But being able to see the elephants as they ambled along, tusks flashing, trunks searching for food, ears flapping – we were close enough to see that.

There were so many elephants crossing the valley that we kept having to change course. Elephants were on all sides, and somehow we were in the middle. It didn’t help that most of them had baby elephants with them, meaning that the mommas would be even more aggressive. Eventually we scaled a big hill in order to get out of the way. I thought it was great, and, good naïve American that I am, I was not scared in the slightest. I guess I’ll be much more cautious of elephants in my future.

The whole fact that this all actually exists is sort of unbelievable. There were animals everywhere, simply living in this immense space, and I was able to visit. If I had dared to imagine anything about some sort of American-idealized Africa before coming here, this is the sort of thing I might have visualized. And it’s real. Yet at the same time, it’s a private piece of property that I was unusually lucky to have had the chance to visit. So many people here, especially Africans, never have anything like this opportunity. So while yes, this is Africa and this is beautiful, it’s not what Africa is. It’s a piece – not a small piece – but definitely just a piece.

I'm learning just how much Africa is in every way. That's why I want to be here.