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Published: August 6th 2008
our adventure begins
This is me in the jeep with my friend's son, our tour guide and two other friends.Hey guys!
My African adventure is coming to an end. My last month here I have been feverishly trying to see as much as I can of the country before I return to the good ol' U. S. of A!
Last weekend I took a trip to Bandia animal reserve which is a bit more than an hour's drive outside of the city. I had such a good time and took literally hundreds of pictures! I don't have room to post them all here but I made sure to include a lot of the good stuff.
We had an awesome guide who let us get out of our jeep and walk around the reserve. We walked right up to giraffes that were so beautiful and majestic. I was struck completely silent! I took lots of pictures with them and then somewhere in the midst of my snapping I realized that if one of the giraffes just so much as lifted one of his graceful legs he could kick me straight into the sweet hereafter! I started making my way back to the jeep 😊
I got up close and personal with a couple of rinos too, but that meeting almost didn't
crossing over
We are just at the start of the rainy season. The river was flooded which made for a "fun" off-road experience! turn out as well. There were two rinos. One was sick and the other was hanging out with his ailing homeboy. They were cool and calm so we all started taking pictures of them and with them. I had just walked up to one - maybe about 5 feet away - and was posing for my picture when....
All of a sudden I heard this loud snort and felt the earth beneath my feet and turned just in time to see this rinos massive foot come crashing down to the ground. He started shaking his head back and forth and snorting. I guess he wasn't feeling very photogenic! I didn't stick around to find out though. You never saw a pair of New Balance sneakers move so fast! Afterwards people were asking me if I used to run track!!
We spent about 2 hours out on the reserve looking at the animals and the beautiful Baobab trees. These trees are HUGE and can live as long as 1,000 years. They grow in Africa and India and many believe that the Tree of Life in the Bible was actually a Baobab. They grow a sweet, strange fruit that is used for
food and medicine. It is said to have the ability to heal all illnesses. Historically in Senegal the trees served an even greater purpose as a final resting place for Griots, oral historians who are famous for literally walking around and singing history. The closest Western reference I can think of would be a town crier, but the Griot is much more stately and elegant.
After we saw all of the animals, we had lunch by the lake which was swollen with muddy rainwater and crocodiles! It was a truly amazing trip!!!
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