A Long Night's Journey Back to Home

They say time flies by when you’re having fun; well as I sit to write this, my journey to South Africa is over. After two 8+ hour overnight flights, we made it home to the U.S. Our first flight out of Johannesburg made a refueling stop in Dakar, Senegal, during which the Dakar airport security team boarded the plane and literally checked every overhead compartment, seatback pocket, under seat storage space, and restroom on the South African Airways jet, supposedly conducting routine searches for “stowaways.” Perhaps understandable but falling upon deaf ears for sleepy passengers, the Dakar airport security team insisted that we remain standing throughout the inspection. Which leads me to ask you… what human being could possibly “fit” in a seat back pocket?!?! After 8 hours of flying, it being 2am, and knowing you have another 8 hours to go, that stop was not the highlight of the trip.

My posting is going to be very brief tonight. I’ve tried to fight off the jet lag, but it isn’t working. It’s 8:10pm here, meaning in South Africa it would be 2:10am, and I am fading quickly. So I’m going to leave my final posting until the next day or so, in order that my thinking is alert so I can do justice to the meaning of the trip.

For tonight, I’ll leave you with something fun. You will recall I mentioned we had the chance to go on a second safari the morning before we left for the airport. That second safari was even better than the first. We saw 3 members of the Big 5, (lions, rhinos, and elephants). Speaking of elephants, I’m providing a video clip from our encounter with an African Bull Elephant. I won’t spoil things for you by providing too much detail before you watch the clip…but suffice it to say, all of us have a new appreciation for just how large and imposing these beautiful creatures are. Enjoy the video, and I’ll be in touch soon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3N0f1NWpvRc

Marc