In Search of the Leopard

A cheetah waiting for its prey

Kenya.

It brought to my mind, visions of a beautiful country, of sunsets over vast savannahs covered with wild animals, of tall proud Masai warriors watching over their land. Of a world where only the fittest survive. Full of singing lions. At least that is the impression I had after seeing the Lion King. In reality, it is everything I had imagined, sans the chorus line.

As a child, visiting the zoo had always been a highlight and I’d always dreamed of visiting Africa — which would be one big zoo with no bars. Free-range animals. And so as the plane approached the runway to signal the start of my African safari adventure, I felt my dream about to be realised.

We landed in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital. Sometimes harshly referred to as Nairobbery due to the high incidence of theft we were heading straight out of the city and into the national parks. Less chance of being robbed by a wildebeest I assumed. (I must add that we did spend some time in Nairobi at the end of our trip and had no problems). Waiting for us in his trusty 4WD was our guide for the week, Alphonse. “The Fonz” as I dubbed him looked to be around fifty. As seemed to be the case with many of the guides we met, we later found out he was actually much older than he looked. Sixty-eight in fact. I guess not living in a big city full of pollution, hunched over a computer and trapped in a…