On Safari - and Suggested Reading

Dawn. To the east, the sky lightens above a black grove of trees, deep blue, then orange, then creamy yellow. The clouds lose their purple tint slowly, then dissipate, leaving behind a single star. As we pull out of camp, we see a caravan of giraffe, their long necks at a common slant, seemingly black before the rising red sun, strange markings against an ancient sky. It was like this for the rest of the day, as if I were seeing as a child once again, the world a pop-up book, a fable, a painting by Rousseau. The silence interrupted only by the crack of a bone or the rush of the wind , or the hard thump of a vulture's wing as it strained to lift itself into the current , until it finally found higher air and its long graceful wings became motionless and still like the rest. There, in the dusk, over that hill,m I imagined the first man stepping forward, naked and rough-skinned, grasping a chunk of flint in his clumsy hand, no words yet for the fear, the anticipation, the awe he feels at the sky. And I thought to myself,: This is what Creation looked like.

Did I write that ?!? - I wish. In fact, it was written by the man who is about to become the President of the USA. We are both reading Barack Obama's 1995 memoir, Dreams from my Father . (Does this ever happen to you? - two bookmarks racing through a book with lots of negotiating as to whose turn is it to read it). I cannot imagine that any President-to-be has written a more insightful and candid self-portrait. If you would like to know what drives this guy, how he thinks, what he struggles with and how his social and political formation developed, I highly recommend this book - which is very well written and highly engaging to boot.

On his section on his return to Kenya to meet his father's family circa 1993, Obama says of Africans that they need "courage [and] honest, decent, men and women with attainable ambitions and the determination to see those ambitions through". This phrase resonates very true with me. I have seen a lot of courage and met many decent and honest people. It is the appropriate scaling of goals and ambitions and the commitment to realize them that is needed. In my experience, admittedly limited as it is, this is a place where a hard look is needed when setting goals - to ensure that they are attainable and sustainable in a local setting. And that progress should be measured in small victories rather than monumental milestones.

We're en route back to Lesotho via Ficksburg, SA where we are enjoying our last blast of Internet, electricity and cold beer. Ficksburg is deep in Boer Afrikaner country and we have been here a couple of times - always in pursuit of the things I just mentioned at the end of the last sentence. I was struggling to associate it with something I had seen or read when I realized that it seems frozen in the 1970's and looks very much like it could have served as the backdrop for Archie comics. Indeed, I expect to see Reggie and Veronica turn the corner at any moment. Our B+B hostess even wears matching pant suits. We do enjoy the peaceful order that seems to be in place in this community and the broad, leafy streets that provide ample shade from the sun.

We're heading to Tanzania in February where I hope to sharpen my writing skills to Obama's level to capture my impressions of our own safari experience.
.