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There’s more than one way to go onSAFARI.

BY JENNIFER WEATHERHEADHARRINGTON

know that I should be clicking, taking picture after picture, but I’m frozen in awe. Just a few metres from the open-air Jeep in which I’m sitting, a female elephant and her monthold calf are using their trunks to feast on golden grasses. I’m so close, I can see the wrinkles and folds in their dark-grey skin and hear their huffs and snorts as they chew. Behind them, 33 other members of the herd are meandering across a small slope, chomping away. I can feel my heart pounding beneath my rib cage. It’s the first time I’ve seen so many elephants all at once and this close. I finally manage to take a few pictures, and then I consciously put my camera down and take a deep breath. I need to make sure I capture this moment in my mind too.

It’s my third day on safari in Kenya; I’m travelling from dusty Samburu in the north to the expansive plains of the Masai Mara, along the Tanzanian border, to the rolling green hills of Tsavo National Park in the south. Kenya is often touted as one of the best spots to see African wildlife thanks to the yearly migration of over two million animals from the Serengeti in Tanzania across the Mara River to Kenya and back—the migration of the wildebeests alone has been named the seventh New Wonder of the World. And there’s more than one way to take it all in: The word “safari” means “long journey” in Swahili, and it’s used to describe any kind of travel, from horseback riding to walking to driving. Here’s my take on all of the above.

Two elephants spotted by the writer; the grounds of the Mount Kenya Safari Club (below)