Readjustment to life on our continent has held some challenges for me. When I gather myself back up, there are more stories of Africa to tell. For now let me make this tribute to the unfathomable wonder of the animals we were privileged to witness on the Masai Mara. I love this quote that was written on a poster at the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust elephant orphanage:

For the animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complex than ours, they move finished and complete, gifted with extensions of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings, they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendor and travail of the earth.
–Henry Benton

Here are but a few of the animals we saw wandering about in their own habitat, there were many more. I tried to describe to my daughters what it is like seeing thousands of animals living in their own world. It occurred to me to explain that if one had never seen the sky before, no one could ever describe the sky well enough to transmit the experience of it. You could show photographs, write essays or poetry, but not until you stand under the open sky would you get it. It’s the same with this experience. National Geographic does a great job, so do many other photographers, essayists, book writers and poets. But not until you are there can it be known.