The Mara

I am a 'place' person. The feeling of a place either makes me feel connected, happy and somehow contented in where I am, or not. New England, for example, is not a place I connect to. I went to college there and, yes, its beautiful and after four years I did come to appreciate it. (And love many good people there.) But it is not a place I resonate with, or came to love or felt I fit... That connection to place is something I've realized is extremely important to me. Conversely it is a deep sense of belonging and contentedness that connects me to place; I don't always know which comes first. But Kenya is the place where I was born and raised. And long before my earliest recollections, that connection was being formed and cemented in me through all my senses just being there, absorbing all that IS Kenya. The way it feels, smells, tastes, sounds, looks... is just Kenya. Its where I spent the first 18 years of my life, and is the place I feel most connected to. And absolutely adore.

Last weekend I went home. My brother is living and working in a little conservancy adjacent to the Masai Mara Game Reserve, building a tented 'eco-camp.' And being the occasion of his 29th birthday, well why ever wouldn't I go?? So I flew to Nairobi, on a quick barely-an-hour Air Uganda flight.... shuttled my butt over to Wilson Airport where I sat and waited for the better part of the day for my barely-an-hour Safarilink flight out to the Mara. On a wretched little place that bounced through the sky like a yo-yo on a string; YUCK. My one thought of some small comfort, if I was going to die, what better way than to crash than into the beautiful hills of Kenya? Denys Finch Hatton- style? It'd be a nice full circle sort of thing. But praise-be-to-god, my life did not come full circle that fine day (or four days later on my way back). We did not crash, and I did not die, only suffered a minor anxiety attack and an unpleasant queasy stomach.

But even just being back in Nairobi driving from one airport to the other--I got this giddy, ridiculously happy feeling of familiarity and home. I realized just how home it really is.

Flying over the Ngong Hills... close to where we used to live. (And where Denys Finch Hatton died and is burried. Go watch Out of Africa. And WEEP.)

We used to go to the Mara a lot as kids. Part of the Kenya Semester Program my dad directed was a two week field course in the Mara studying wildlife ecology and community conservation. I don't know how many years its been since I was there last, but oh, to go back. To feel my heart fill up to the brim and beyond just BEING there... it just felt good, so so good. Its just... part of me somehow, that beautiful, beautiful place.

Oh, my pictures feel far too one-dimensional to capture any real sense of it... On Thans birthday we got up in the chilly dark, make a thermos of coffee (true that in yesteryears it would have been chai, but this is one of the very small details that can be fudged and I'm very happily ambidextrous when it comes to my hot beverages...) and set out for an early morning game drive.
Thans camp... his tent and a few tents to store building tools/supplies etc.
Where I spent a lot of time enjoying the hot sun, warm breezes and animals passing though (thankfully no lions) as I read Someone Knows My Name. (Beautiful book, by the way, by Lawrence Hill.)
Thans tent... here he sits connecting with the great wide world through his magic internet wand on his computer.
For his birthday dinner we had a meaty braai-- (barbeque) thanks to Adrien and Carmen who joined us for the weekend from Nairobi-- loaded with Than's resupply.
And of course, there must be cake! (Thanks Mel!) And candles that you can't blow out. (Unless you're Than and have the lung capacity of a young hippo.) (He also got party popped, weehoo!) Happy Birthday NASAN!
Sunrise...
Adrien cooked us a delicious breakfast Sunday morning...
Than and Carmen enjoying coffe...
Sunday evening gamedrive and sundowners of course...
Overlooking the beautiful Mara...