Thinking of Africa made me cry...a belated thanks
Apr 25th, 2008, 03:42 PM
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Thinking of Africa made me cry...a belated thanks
Last year I had a last minute trip to Tanzania that ended up being wonderful. I utilized the folks here for much of the planning, from Lynn's packing list to arrival jitters and including safari recommendations when I hit the wall after 30 or so companies I contacted came up empty. I ended up with CC Africa and had a great time. I just wish I had been with someone to share it. And so did my friends and family back home. I felt I had to document every last event and object with pictures. Only my sweet mother was THRILLED to watch the hour plus DVD of pics. She even watched it multiple times and could remember what music played in the background when the pictures of the lion kill start. Everyone else was nice to tolerate my talking about it for months.
And speaking of pictures, I want give a HUGE thanks to all those who post about camera needs. I have done a lot of photography in the past, mostly black and white portraits, but hadn't gotten into digital for more than the "pull out of your purse camera" pictures. There just is something about watching prints develop in the darkroom. But had I not spent the money to get that camera (as my friends who I joined in Arusha said "just throw some more money on the fire" about all the expenses that add up), I would have been too worried about using up all my film when we came over a hill in the Serengeti and saw the herd of elephant. Or I would have used it up and not been able to get the calf shots as they came so close to our vehicle. So for those of you planning a trip now - go ahead, get the technology you need. Once there and back, it was worth having to work extra hard to pay off the bills.
So now I am on the Europe board planning a trip to Italy. I am going as a work/reward week and then staying on for 8 days to tour solo. So I hope I can plan a great a trip with their help too.
But I did have a realization yesterday listening to the Broadway station on XM. The Circle of Life was playing and I started crying. OK, I am a sap sometimes. But it made me misty for being so awe-filled and scared and challenged as I was during that first trip. It made me sad, as I thought about the list of places I want to see and go, and none of them will seem as big a deal as the Africa trip was. I guess being in the bush and visiting our guide's mother's boma is just so out of my day to day being here in the states. That getting gelato doesn't seem as exotic.
For those of you that have travelled to Africa multiple times, do you still get that feeling? That wonder? Or do you go back for another goal? The perfect shot? Or the ellusive leapord? Or whatever?
Well, it is a Friday and I am rambling now, but did want to take time out to thank those who continue to help out travelers like me.
So if you also know about Italy.... come over to the Europe board. Have a good weekend.
And speaking of pictures, I want give a HUGE thanks to all those who post about camera needs. I have done a lot of photography in the past, mostly black and white portraits, but hadn't gotten into digital for more than the "pull out of your purse camera" pictures. There just is something about watching prints develop in the darkroom. But had I not spent the money to get that camera (as my friends who I joined in Arusha said "just throw some more money on the fire" about all the expenses that add up), I would have been too worried about using up all my film when we came over a hill in the Serengeti and saw the herd of elephant. Or I would have used it up and not been able to get the calf shots as they came so close to our vehicle. So for those of you planning a trip now - go ahead, get the technology you need. Once there and back, it was worth having to work extra hard to pay off the bills.
So now I am on the Europe board planning a trip to Italy. I am going as a work/reward week and then staying on for 8 days to tour solo. So I hope I can plan a great a trip with their help too.
But I did have a realization yesterday listening to the Broadway station on XM. The Circle of Life was playing and I started crying. OK, I am a sap sometimes. But it made me misty for being so awe-filled and scared and challenged as I was during that first trip. It made me sad, as I thought about the list of places I want to see and go, and none of them will seem as big a deal as the Africa trip was. I guess being in the bush and visiting our guide's mother's boma is just so out of my day to day being here in the states. That getting gelato doesn't seem as exotic.
For those of you that have travelled to Africa multiple times, do you still get that feeling? That wonder? Or do you go back for another goal? The perfect shot? Or the ellusive leapord? Or whatever?
Well, it is a Friday and I am rambling now, but did want to take time out to thank those who continue to help out travelers like me.
So if you also know about Italy.... come over to the Europe board. Have a good weekend.
Apr 25th, 2008, 06:09 PM
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Once in Africa it gets into your soul. After awhile all the churches in Italy and elsewhere start to look alike with some variations, but to me every lion, every ellie, every MickeyDee even (OK Impala) looks as different as you and me; they have personality, they imprint on your brain. I thought I knew a lot until I discovered my "home": Afreeekah!!! I'm crying just reading your post. YOU need Africa. Go back while you still can!
Apr 25th, 2008, 07:32 PM
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Same here, not a day goes by that I don't think of something we did in Africa, someone we talked to, animals we saw, antics they pulled - or the best yet - the plans going around in my head continually to return.
At this particular time of the year (last few days of torture for Canadian income tax season) especially....
At this particular time of the year (last few days of torture for Canadian income tax season) especially....
Apr 26th, 2008, 03:51 AM
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Italy, shmitaly.....you've seen one cathedral you've seen them all! Of course there are people who think the same thing about elephants, but I bet those are people who haven't actually seen elephants in the wild.
Thinking, dreaming, planning, remembering past trips....that's what keeps me going when day to day life gets me down.
Thinking, dreaming, planning, remembering past trips....that's what keeps me going when day to day life gets me down.
Apr 26th, 2008, 05:36 AM
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Thanks guys. I WILL be going back, probably next year. My older brother is pretty competitive with me and is a little jealous that I have gone and he hasn't. So he has stated numerous times that he wants to go with me. Probably next year. I really wish we could take my mother. It has been her dream to go on safari as long as I can remember.
Rwanda has to be part of the deal though. I thought it was a poster here that put up her trip report on a separate web site, but I have searched for her post and can't find it. But I look at her web site weekly at least. The countryside and gorilla photos are amazing.
But it is Switzerland and Italy for now, as the plane fare and first week are paid for. I will have some gelato for all of you while I am there.
Rwanda has to be part of the deal though. I thought it was a poster here that put up her trip report on a separate web site, but I have searched for her post and can't find it. But I look at her web site weekly at least. The countryside and gorilla photos are amazing.
But it is Switzerland and Italy for now, as the plane fare and first week are paid for. I will have some gelato for all of you while I am there.
Apr 26th, 2008, 07:23 AM
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OMG - I am so glad to read this thread. I was in Italy in March and while I enjoyed it, I was kinda bored! Like safarimom said one church starts to look like another! When everyone asked about Italy after my return, I wanted to answer "It was ok, but it wasn't Africa," but thought everyone would think I was crazy! I simply put on a big smile and said it was great. I only admitted the truth to my family, who would understand. Africa does get into your blood and each trip for me is just as exciting as the first if not more!
Apr 26th, 2008, 07:53 AM
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The same for me and maybe one person discribed the feeling best:
Noel de Villiers.
My website is called africaaddicted.com (no eplaining needed)
I went to Africa many times and there is the same feeling again.
I cannot fit in anymore at home, so we are planning to leave Holland and go to live there.
Mara Holland
Noel de Villiers
Warning!
A visit to Africa may result in your becoming afflicted with a malady for which there is no known cure . . .
The condition has afflicted many people over the centuries. Some of them were great explorers, others great physicians. Way back in ancient times it had already been identified and given a name, “malum africanum”, by the Latins, today known as “Mal d’Afrique” by the French.
There is no escape: no known remedy. They can now join those born with the condition in Africa and help fashion its image in a culture that aims at a fullness of human dimensions, good to serve as a global one.
The symptoms are extraordinary. The scope of our vision changes and you become preoccupied with distance, far horizons. At the same time you notice small things, subtleties that previously seemed irrelevant – shades of colours more noticeable than the colours themselves.
Your hearing intensifies; mechanical noises offend you as never before. You detect melodies in the trickle of a stream, hear voices in the rustling of leaves. The things you do in life become less important than the things you see, feel, and can touch.
And then the smell ! The smell of life in the first rain falling on and fertilising the arid soil and making it bloom with green grass and life-sustaining crops.
In the African bush, far away from surroundings you are accustomed to, you feel as though you have come home. Some say your spirit recognises the birthplace of its origin, others say you feel an overwhelming presence of the Creator in the scope of communal life.
In this country which abounds with nature, we have the most wonderful story to tell and yet we don’t tell it. God is exposed in this land. It is as though God mixed the ingredients of the earth here.
The San people with their symbolic paintings realised that and left us a message. But few of us understand it. There is something that can only be described in mystical terms.
This something is the mystique of Africa and the malady to which you have succumbed - mal d’Afrique, a grace given only to those who have accepted to be truly human by living their lives in that African way.
-Noel de Villiers in African Panorama
Noel de Villiers.
My website is called africaaddicted.com (no eplaining needed)
I went to Africa many times and there is the same feeling again.
I cannot fit in anymore at home, so we are planning to leave Holland and go to live there.
Mara Holland
Noel de Villiers
Warning!
A visit to Africa may result in your becoming afflicted with a malady for which there is no known cure . . .
The condition has afflicted many people over the centuries. Some of them were great explorers, others great physicians. Way back in ancient times it had already been identified and given a name, “malum africanum”, by the Latins, today known as “Mal d’Afrique” by the French.
There is no escape: no known remedy. They can now join those born with the condition in Africa and help fashion its image in a culture that aims at a fullness of human dimensions, good to serve as a global one.
The symptoms are extraordinary. The scope of our vision changes and you become preoccupied with distance, far horizons. At the same time you notice small things, subtleties that previously seemed irrelevant – shades of colours more noticeable than the colours themselves.
Your hearing intensifies; mechanical noises offend you as never before. You detect melodies in the trickle of a stream, hear voices in the rustling of leaves. The things you do in life become less important than the things you see, feel, and can touch.
And then the smell ! The smell of life in the first rain falling on and fertilising the arid soil and making it bloom with green grass and life-sustaining crops.
In the African bush, far away from surroundings you are accustomed to, you feel as though you have come home. Some say your spirit recognises the birthplace of its origin, others say you feel an overwhelming presence of the Creator in the scope of communal life.
In this country which abounds with nature, we have the most wonderful story to tell and yet we don’t tell it. God is exposed in this land. It is as though God mixed the ingredients of the earth here.
The San people with their symbolic paintings realised that and left us a message. But few of us understand it. There is something that can only be described in mystical terms.
This something is the mystique of Africa and the malady to which you have succumbed - mal d’Afrique, a grace given only to those who have accepted to be truly human by living their lives in that African way.
-Noel de Villiers in African Panorama
Apr 26th, 2008, 08:22 AM
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The first trip to anywhere always brings a certain daunting element. So many new things to deal with -- cultures, languages, and the more mundane practical things like figuring out the systems in restaurants or finding a toilet in the city. And then there's that amazing feeling when you take the train or taxi from the airport, with your face just about pressed into the window so that you can take in everything.
Problem is, then you fall in love with a place, and can't figure out whether to go back to the places you love or to go to some new place. Life is tough.
Problem is, then you fall in love with a place, and can't figure out whether to go back to the places you love or to go to some new place. Life is tough.
Apr 26th, 2008, 09:29 AM
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Sorry Lynda, I realized I mixed up the names on crediting the packing list. Before the trip last June, I told a friend and her dad about your list and then week before I left I found a fedex package with a notebook and a mini stapler for the trip from her sweet dad.
Apr 26th, 2008, 11:59 AM
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I think what draws us back to Africa like a magnet is just that. It's not only the animals, the friendly people and the sweet smells, but the beauty of the feeling of being home. This came to me as I listened to a South African cellist and poet during a concert here in Seattle several years ago. It was such a revelation. He wrote a poem about his heart and soul belonging to Africa and then played it on his cello. I so wish that I could remember his name 
He was interested in anthropology and told us that while studying about it, he had felt this magnet too. He described so beautifully the feeling of needing to be back where mankind was born, where we all came from. I think that's where the magnet comes in. It's inate. I have to go back to Africa.
It's a beautiful feeling.
He was interested in anthropology and told us that while studying about it, he had felt this magnet too. He described so beautifully the feeling of needing to be back where mankind was born, where we all came from. I think that's where the magnet comes in. It's inate. I have to go back to Africa.
It's a beautiful feeling.
Apr 26th, 2008, 02:09 PM
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Sorry Lynda,
I'm off next week, so it has to be in June and after your trip to Alaska.
Where am I going? To Namibia for my first time
I'm staying at Onguma Tented Camp, Okahirongo Elephant Lodge, Mowani Mountain Camp and Wolvedans Dunes Lodge. I'm so excited. After that I spend a few days in Durban attending a conference. Then I'm checking in at Phinda, Lukimbi, Mala Mala, Idube, Dulini and Exeter River before going to Botswana. Tom will join me for that portion. We'll be staying at Ker & Downey's Okuti Camp that will re-open in May after extensive renovations, then a mobile with Unchartered Africa before ending at Jack's camp for the last 3 days. I'm back on June 5th.
I'm going back to Kenya on July 15 and I will see Kennedy for one day.
I'm off next week, so it has to be in June and after your trip to Alaska.
Where am I going? To Namibia for my first time
I'm staying at Onguma Tented Camp, Okahirongo Elephant Lodge, Mowani Mountain Camp and Wolvedans Dunes Lodge. I'm so excited. After that I spend a few days in Durban attending a conference. Then I'm checking in at Phinda, Lukimbi, Mala Mala, Idube, Dulini and Exeter River before going to Botswana. Tom will join me for that portion. We'll be staying at Ker & Downey's Okuti Camp that will re-open in May after extensive renovations, then a mobile with Unchartered Africa before ending at Jack's camp for the last 3 days. I'm back on June 5th.
I'm going back to Kenya on July 15 and I will see Kennedy for one day.
Apr 26th, 2008, 02:16 PM
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“Once you have visited Africa, you never leave it; and Africa never leaves you. Its’ dust, mostly red, sometimes white, often black, settles on the heart... and remains forever. One always returns – if only in spirit.” – Don Steffen, writer
Apr 26th, 2008, 04:05 PM
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Godmother I, too, thank you for starting this thread.
It is here that I can share my disconsolation at not having plans to go back to Africa. I know I have deep sympathy amongst my new Africa friends here. Reading what all of you safari-goers are up to and of your return plans seems to increase my anguish and sense of loss so I have been trying to wean myself from this board - without much success! Alas, it's really too bad we have a mortgage to pay off!
-doo
It is here that I can share my disconsolation at not having plans to go back to Africa. I know I have deep sympathy amongst my new Africa friends here. Reading what all of you safari-goers are up to and of your return plans seems to increase my anguish and sense of loss so I have been trying to wean myself from this board - without much success! Alas, it's really too bad we have a mortgage to pay off!
-doo
Apr 27th, 2008, 03:57 AM
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Yup, count me in as one jaded about seeing other places.
Immediately after our Tanzanian trip we went to the Seychelles and found it a bit of a let down. How could a place as wonderful as these exotic islands not be worthy?
My heart skips every time I think of our upcoming trip to Bots. and Zimb. I'm thinking, hmmmm, perhaps Mozambique/Malawi, Selous, Lake Victoria and Rwanda after that if I can find money and a logistical way of doing so.
Of course there's always Namibia and Cape town after that.
Immediately after our Tanzanian trip we went to the Seychelles and found it a bit of a let down. How could a place as wonderful as these exotic islands not be worthy?
My heart skips every time I think of our upcoming trip to Bots. and Zimb. I'm thinking, hmmmm, perhaps Mozambique/Malawi, Selous, Lake Victoria and Rwanda after that if I can find money and a logistical way of doing so.
Of course there's always Namibia and Cape town after that.
Apr 27th, 2008, 08:21 AM
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I completely get Lillipets comment of Itlay Schmitaly.
But are there Italy fans that say Africa Schmafrica?
If there were some kind of law or rule that stated I could travel only to Africa but nowhere else, I'd be disappointed at all that I would miss, but I could adjust.
If that law stated I could go anywhere in the world except Africa, I'd be devasted.
But are there Italy fans that say Africa Schmafrica?
If there were some kind of law or rule that stated I could travel only to Africa but nowhere else, I'd be disappointed at all that I would miss, but I could adjust.
If that law stated I could go anywhere in the world except Africa, I'd be devasted.
