April 19, 2015
It’s true. People are funny!
We’ve just spent the last day traveling for
13 hours to get from Arusha, Tanzania to Cape Town, South Africa. We were up at
3:30 am to drive to the airport and get our 4am flight to Nairobi, Kenya, then
from there to Johannesburg, South Africa AND finally to Cape Town, South
Africa.
Along the way Rob and I couldn’t help but
laugh at how we travelers interact at times.
“Please
remain seated until the airplane comes to a complete stop and the seatbelt sign
is turned off…DING!”
What I think most people actually hear is
reminiscent of my high-school track and field days with the Starter standing at
the start line, pistol in hand;
“Runners…take
your mark…get set…BANG!!!”
Followed immediately by the scratchy sounds
system bellowing the Track Announcer’s voice from the top of
the bleachers:
“AND
THEY ARE OFF! What a great start by lanes 2 and 4, they are rounding the first
turn…and clearly leaving lane 3 behind…what an exciting race!”
The result is comical:
“DING!” followed by my inner AllieMacBeal (late 90’s TV show) voice and visual “AND THEY ARE OFF! What an amazing start by isles 25 and 27, they’ve
successfully jumped up and squeezed out isle 26! They’re pulling down their
carry-on luggage and starting to press forward…”
This is where I start to mix sport
metaphors:
“The
travelers in the 20-plus isles are poised and pressing hard on the lead isles
BUT WAIT, a successful BLOCK by Robby Hastings in Isle 26 as the travelers in
the forward isles exit the plane. The lead traveler from Isle 27 is leaning
hard on Robby Hastings who seems to be holding his ground, pulling down
carry-on luggage politely for every one of the travelers in his Isle and letting
them exit in front of him! What a team player!”
We were laughing at the similar “me first!” patterns we saw at times
through our adventure. One of the funniest was our last day on the Serengeti and
we were focused on seeing a leopard. So too were 5-6 other groups apparently.
Our group laughed at ourselves and the other groups as we participated in what
looked to me to be some adult version of kids playing leapfrog but with safari
vehicles and the point system were the number and quality of leopard pictures
apparently! Most of the travelers would politely smile to each other and offer
a “jambo” (hello) as we pulled up to
them but there were a couple of travelers who would scowl in competition for
that perfect shot! Barking at their driver if we moved forward to “get ahead!” as all 5 of the Land Rovers
continued in this odd game of leap frog while the mother leopard tried to
continue her hunt.
Of course, most of the time we are
fortunate and meet fantastic fellow travelers! The sunrise balloon ride over
the Serengeti held the 5 of us on one side and another group of 5 fellow
travelers from South Africa on the other side of the basket. We immediately hit
it off and by the end of post-balloon-ride breakfast; we agreed to meet up for
a cocktail in Cape Town.
People are funny and most of the time we
are more alike than we are different (see loo with a view!)
We really are more alike than we are different. Along our journey we visited the Olduvai Gorge Museum that celebrates the “journey through 3.6 million years of human evolution” and Mary Leakey's discovery of the hominid trackway at Laetoli.
Dr Yoshiharu Sekino decided to trace the route of this great journey in reverse - wanting to face the same extremes of heat and cold that faced the ancient peoples.
I think its just about remembering that we are more alike than we are different, taking the time to say "jambo" (hello) and stop thinking we’re in a race to be first!
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