uganda: the "tourist-y" part of our trip

i grew up watching marty stouffer's wild america

and mutual of omaha's wild kingdom.

man, those were the days.

so i could hardly believe we were about to go on safari. 

is this really happening to me, the girl

who had been on an airplane only 3 times prior to this trip??

who didn't even have a passport until a few months ago?

but here i was, at paraa safari lodge in freaking africa,

lounging by a pool which overlooked the nile,

and eating glorious, savory, safe-for-americans-to-eat food.

this place was amazing,

and i was certain the safari would be no different.

after a couple of hours of rest,

we loaded up the vehicles 

and began our late afternoon drive.

the park is over 5,000 square miles,

and goes as far as the eye can see. 

the vastness of this place is unbelievable.

an animal fact i did not know prior to the safari:

the spots on a giraffe get darker with age.

this guy was the oldest giraffe we saw. :)

at one point during our excursion,

our van got stuck in the thick sand

as we were turning toward another path.

the driver radioed to the other vehicles, 

and they came to help push us out...

we had to exit the van while they pushed,

so for about 5 minutes or so, we were

hanging out next to these guys...

we were back in the van, when another vehicle

radioed to say they'd finally spotted a lioness,

so we booked it pretty hard to get to them.

and lo and behold, there she was,

lying in the grass and having a little yawn.

she stayed there for a little while, 

then decided she'd had enough.

she moved off further

and disappeared in the tall grass.

i was sure there were going to be cubs nearby,

or a male coming up to check us out too,

but no dice - just the big lady.

the next morning, we were off to cruise the

nile river aboard the african queen. 

our destination was murchison falls,

which we were going to hike to the top of after the cruise. 

they told us it was going to be about a 3-hour tour,

and of course the theme song for gilligan's island popped in my head.

from the hike, we were headed back to kampala for the night,

so after a few final photo-ops at the safari lodge

and a quick scripture reading from dustin,

we were on our way. 

at one point during the cruise, 

i'm looking out over the river,

hoping to spot a male lion walking along the bank in the distance.

(truth be told, i was expecting to see

way more lions on the safari, 

and was kinda miffed that we just saw 

the one lioness - and she was just lying there.

yawning.

i mean, come on dude. 

eat a gazelle or something.)

anyway, i overhear pastor john say to himself,

"i can't believe i'm cruising down the 

nile river with my kids right now."

it was then that i stopped fretting

over not seeing what i was hoping for,

and instead, began to appreciate what was

right in front of me.

this truly was an experience of a lifetime,

every part of it.

after the cruise, we hiked up

and up,

and up some more.

we still had a long way to go,

but finally, murchison falls was in view.

when i first looked out over the top of the falls, 

i tried to pray words of thankfulness 

in return for this beautiful sight God was giving me. 

i felt like that was the least i could do.

but the sound of the water 

and the overwhelming bigness of it all 

was too distracting.

i kept fighting to clear my head so i could pray,

but the words and thoughts were running together 

in a jumbled up mess.

and then the strangest thing happened...

i was reminded of how my daughter can sometimes

get so caught up with what she's saying; 

her words just fly out of her mouth 

in a never-ending stream of consciousness, 

and it can go on and on for minutes at a time.

so i have to get right in front of her face,

and say "lucy, please slow down.

 take a deep breath, and just be still for a little bit."

it felt like my Heavenly Father 

was doing this very thing with me,

at the top of murchison falls. 

so i finally gave in, and let my heart

and my mind be still,

and absorbed this breathtaking part of creation.