Thursday, September 22, 2016

The Trouble with Giraffes

In a nutshell the trouble with giraffes is that they are in Africa, and I am not.

A few days ago I ran across a collection of stunning pictures of giraffes silhouetted against the sunset on the Maasai Mara Reserve in Kenya (link here).  The pictures were well worth sharing, so I did, posting a link to them on Facebook under a comment to the effect that maybe I should let Valerie introduce me to Africa.  

It didn't take long for several friends to suggest that a trip to Africa should be in my immediate future.  Hopefully what they had in mind was a round trip, though none of them were that specific.  

In fairness, introducing me to Africa has been on Valerie's list.  And the idea of a safari -- a reasonably comfortable one, that is, if there is such a thing -- appeals to me, though I do wonder if it wouldn't have been a better idea earlier in my life when I moved more easily but couldn't afford it.  Not that I can actually afford it now....

But I suspect that it could happen.  The trouble, of course, is that those giraffes are in Africa and I am not.  And getting there takes a considerable amount of planning.  However, I discovered yesterday that my wife has started to research safaris.  I have a feeling she's going to hold me to that Facebook comment.  Valerie has a couple of decades of her life invested in Africa, and one more return visit would be a welcome opportunity.  

It's not the Falkland Islands (the other place on Valerie's mysterious bucket list) and they're not long-necked penguins.  But then the Falklands have no wildebeest migration.  And the gentle tug of Africa is real.  So who knows?  Safari anyone??

1 comment:

Donn said...

What an enjoyable read! It is such a pleasure when you write. Thank you for this!