We loaded up the vans and were on our way. Our day started very early, and me without coffee, and with the fear of motion sickness, took a Dramamine, and I fell asleep quickly enough.
My mind traveled back over a conversation that I had with my husband, expressing my fear of going on an African safari and the images I had of a lion jumping into our safari van. But I reasoned within myself that the driver, having done this so many times, knew what he was doing and we would be safe.
The long drive started from the little village of Kitengela, through the city of Nairobi, then through the beautiful, picturesque mountains, and finally onto the wildlife park where we would go on our Safari.
We were divided up into three vans and our van held my church family and dear friends. I sat in the third row back, directly behind my dear friend Rhonda—who sat directly behind the driver—and beside me was my bestie Paula. Four of our youth girls sat behind me on the last row.
The hotel had packed us each a sack lunch and to the best of my memory this is what I remember being in it; a sandwich, a boiled egg, chips, a slice of pound cake (which is the first dessert that we had been served other than fruit) and a juice box.
We were hours on the road, and between my napping and our stopping for breaks, I ate my lunch—every last morsel of it—and I might add, pretty much begged everyone else for their cake. Some of the others ate their lunch also, some saved some of their lunch, some saved all of it. It was totally up to us, however we would not eat dinner until late in the evening. I was so much an Esau, I could not wait.
The safari turned out to be pretty incredible, beautiful in all the sights! The animals in their natural habitat were strikingly beautiful, surrounded by the breath taking scenery with the contrast of the most vibrant, beautiful colors I had ever seen. The mountains, lakes and the trees were gorgeous and different from what we have here in the US. A truly remarkable trip and I am glad that I was able to experience this safari.
Our last stop before leaving the park was at the top a mountain, overlooking a lot of the land we had just covered. By this time, we were all exhausted and extremely hungry. The rest stop was loaded with baboons. They were everywhere and we were warned not to mess with them or to try and touch them in any way, as they could be very dangerous.
This is my memory of this account:
We pulled into the rest stop, I was quiet and my head was leaning against the van window, taking in the surrounding view. I happen to notice a very large baboon just moseying along toward our van as we slowly pulled in. As the van came to a stop the driver and the person in the left front got out of the van. The driver walked around to the left side of the van and opened the door—which was our only way out– and the person on the far left of Rhonda got out.
The person sitting right next to Rhonda jumped out quickly as the next few minutes turned into mass confusion and sheer terror.
I saw him coming! I was actually horrified to see my greatest fear come to life as this huge baboon, with big, pointy, yellow teeth grabbed the top of the van with one long arm and swiftly swung himself up and into the van, planting himself right next to Rhonda, leaning into her.
She was trapped, and so were the rest of us as he blocked the only way out of the van.
Rhonda’s head dropped down, her chin tucked tightly into her chest. She tucked her elbows and arms into her body . . . . and she froze.
She did not move a muscle. She was hunkered down.
The next few minutes turned into a hullabaloo and it felt like a s l o w motion horror film. There was so much going on, screaming, yelling, screaming, the flashing of cameras, screaming and yes, more screaming.
The baboon was not paying attention to us, but was busy going through our lunch sacks. From the outside of the van, you could not see Rhonda at all over the baboon that was sitting next to her. He was HUGE!
The driver was at the door yelling at the baboon, and finally decided that since he was blocking the baboons way out went to the other side of the van and started yelling and beating on the window.
Finally, grabbing as many lunch sacks as he could, the baboon left the van and went to explore his treasured find.
We were left shaken and hysterical but the laughter came as relief set in and we regained our since of safety. We could see people standing at the door of the van—our friends—laughing and taking pictures of our misfortune.
When we finally loaded back up in the van and started out of the park, we could see our new found friend sitting off to himself, still going through the sacks and trying to figure out the juice box. Yes, he knew exactly what he was doing and I am pretty certain that this was not his first rodeo.
Rhonda has been a great sport and continues to be as this has become one of my favorite stories to tell. The children that I teach often ask me to tell them the “baboon story”, and I take great delight in telling it. Poor Rhonda has had to relive this experience over and over as I tell it . . . .
Again and again.
Thank you Rhonda!
Thank you to all my sweet friends who provided pictures for this story
Your righteousness is like the great mountains; Your judgments are a great deep; O Lord, You preserve man and beast. Psalm 36:6
Photo by Renitta
Photo by Renitta
The Portion of my Inheritance 