Page 52 - Humanism 2019

Our guide pointed out a few zebra grazing quietly just off of monkeys were amazing to see as they sat quietly
of the road. My initial feeling was that I was driving
through a big zoo, but after about a half hour you realize
this is no zoo. You are on safari, and the next 11 days are
life-changing. Mile after mile, day after day, and night
after night, you reach your final destination.
Our journey took us from one end of Tanzania to another,
staying in beautiful yet basic living quarters. We stayed in
very comfortable zip-up permanent tents. There were no
doors with no locks, and minimal hot water. If you were
quick, you could get a fairly warm shower in at the end of
an eight-hour game drive.
A Range Rover took us over pretty unimaginable terrain.
Emotions ran rampant as we were exposed to so much of
the beauty of the land, and we saw some of the most
phenomenal wildlife one can imagine. We saw a way of
living by the people of Tanzania, who are kind, hard-
working, gentle and happy.
October is the end of the Great
Migration in Tanzania. Their
seasons run opposite to the U.S.,
and by October, it starts to get
very hot. Many of the animals had
just had their babies, so the
territory was full of new life. We
saw elephants with their young,
trying to make it across deep and
rapidly flowing rivers. We saw
giraffes and their babies struggling
to reach leaves high up in the
trees. We saw zebras, wildebeests,
gazelles, dik-diks, and warthogs
trying not to become next meals
for lions, leopards and cheetahs.
Even when they were not chasing that next meal, the
lions, leopards and cheetahs we saw were spectacular. The
sunbathing crocodiles, their mouths wide open, were an
eye-opening experience. The hippos, rhinos and buffalo
moved slowly across the very dry landscape. The families
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grooming each other, with the female monkeys patiently
nursing their newborns. We saw ostriches and many
varieties of birds. You will never forget the glowing eyes
of a pack of hyenas waiting in the distance for their
chance at a meal that a pride of lions has just killed on a
night drive.
On day five, we set off on our hot air balloon adventure.
We left at 4 a.m. and traveled an hour to the location
where our balloon would take off. We were excited at the
thought of seeing the beauty of the Serengeti from so high
above the ground. We were nervous, yet we anticipated the
spreading of my mom’s ashes. We took off just before
dawn. We saw the beautiful landscape of the Serengeti, and
we also saw many animals from a vantage point we hadn’t
had before. For me, seeing them from our vehicle was
much more impressive. Up close and personal is so real.
We got to a particular point on
our balloon ride where we could
see a variety of animals below.
You could hear the sound of the
hot air balloon being propelled
across the Serengeti, yet it was so
serene. I whispered to my sister,
daughter and her husband, “How
about we spread the ashes now?”
This seemed like the perfect place,
and we were all in agreement. I
reached into my backpack and
pulled out the four small
decorated bottles of ashes. I
handed one to each of them and
kept one for myself. It was truly a
personal experience as we each
turned out on our own and
sprinkled the ashes on different parts around the balloon
base. We took a few moments to say what we were feeling
at the time. We gave each other a big group hug when we
were done, said our goodbyes, and let Mom know we
HUMANISM IN THE HEALTH SCIENCES 2019 • VOL. 22