Going through reveiwing pictures of some of my past trips and came across my Kenya folders. Which picture out of thousands do I pick to reflect my time in Kenya? Well I choose one of my favorites, it was as if the animals were posing for me and it also captures the beautiful landscape of Kenya. I had "go on a safari" and "hot air balloon over the Serengeti" on my life to do list so in November of 2013 a friend and I went on a safari in Kenya and hot air ballooned over the Serengeti. One of the most amazing trips of my life for so many reasons.
The people are incredible, they have so little and work so hard everyday , they are some of the happiest and kindest people I have met in my travels. Always greeting you with a huge smile and wave, some of the hardest workers I've seen. The animals are one of a kind and the numbers during the migration is just impossible to comprehend. The fact that the tribes live amongst all of these animals as a way of life overwhelmed me at first. I would see little ones herding the cattle and then not that far we would see lions. It took a few days for my instinct to protect the little ones to calm and realize they more than handled this everyday. I have great respect for the hard choices they have to make that I have never encounter by living in America. Since most of the tribes had to move the village based on being able to graze their cattle parents have to choose which child would go to school and which would help with the cattle. In some villages only two would be chosen to go to school and learn English so they could teach the children and help with navigating the outside world for beads and used tires that they made into sandals for the village.
Kenya changed my soul as I saw how much I had back home and wasn't always that happy or content. I was not always welcoming to strangers or appreciative of all that I had. Here are people who had to walk miles to fetch muddy water out of croc infested rivers and I simply turned on a tap in my very large and safe kitchen. They slept nine people in a hut that wasn't bigger than my office and I lived in a house by myself that was almost bigger than their village all together and yet they had pure joy. This trip changed me and it started me on the journey I am on now to simplify my life, focus on what matters and enjoy life now!