Thoughts on Africa

Victoria Falls, the biggest waterfall in the world!

I’m sitting at my Zambian backpackers (hostel in southern African terms) and watching the rain pour down and thinking, somehow everything in Africa is more extreme than others places I’ve been. When it rains it really pours. The streets turn to steams. The full big open sky rumbles. Also in my time in South Africa, the bugs I saw were huge. Everything on steroids. Six inch crickets. Two inch beetles. Bigger, brighter colors, more pizzazz. On safari, I got to see the huge animals of the savanna. I got used to Asia elephants over my last few trips and now I was reintroduced to African elephants, who make Asian elephants seem tiny. Then it really is amazing how much lions and leopards look like kitties except they are bigger, faster, stronger and significantly more dangerous. Then there is just the color everywhere. The women are dressed in bright patterns. Its rainy season so the landscape is lush and green. Most of the time the sun is bright and strong.

And lastly there are the big smiles. The friendliness and openness is intoxicating. Little kids waving from the side of the roads. The rawness and realness of this continent is just incredible.