From the Top to the Bottom

The last holiday with the parents, always a hazardous undertaking. My 16 year old self was determined to have something with a multitude of theme parks and water slides, my parents were determined to change my life or some such guff.
Many a frost ridden night was spent arguing about this destination or that, “I’ll take your India and I’ll raise you Orlando.” In the spirit of democracy my school teacher mother took control and declared “Africa, take it or leave it”. I tried to counter with a weak “Why bother, we can just go to Chester Zoo” but her face was stone, I would not pass. Obviously I had to keep my teenage façade and stormed out of the room but as I climbed the stairs, a smile crept over my face. I would take it.
I persisted with the sulky teenager act valiantly through Heathrow, onto the plane and touching down in Nairobi. As a trooper to the cause, I even managed a strop in Nairobi and convinced my father to take me onto the clearly unsafe streets to get batteries for my personal stereo (yes I’m that old).
Boarding the mini bus that was to be our home for the next nine days, I produced a look only a teenager can master and promptly fell asleep. The crazy roads decided that I was going to take in everything Kenya had to offer and woke me up to the most amazing view of the Great Rift Valley. I even took my headphones off.
Down we went, into the valley, everyone a lookout for the first beast. We all proudly exclaimed “Zebra” although they would become like stray dogs in a couple of days, “Yeah, yeah a zebra, big wow”.
The lodge was great if a little disconcerting with baboons running free, taking an immediate liking to my father much to his distress and our amusement.
As we all know teenagers’ attention can be, at best, temperamental and I was convinced we’d flown all the way just to see a couple of zebras and a bored looking wildebeest. So off to bed we went.
It gets pretty cold in the Masai Mara at night and I was curled up on a camp bed (another outrage), huddled in the blankets. Something woke me up. I opened my eyes, it was pitch dark. What was that? A lion roared, it sounded like it was in the chalet. I tensed and listened, silence. Then an elephant trumpeted. Then something growled, something brayed, something barked, it was a cacophony of every animal sound you are taught as a child. Chills ran up my spine. It was then that I realised, I was in Africa, they were waiting for me and I was going to spend the next week discovering them.