In exactly one month I’ll take a two-day plane ride to Africa; Kenya to be specific. I made the plans. I paid for the trip. Immunizations are in progress. I have the prescription for malaria drugs. And now– it’s time to ruminate. At intervals each day I ask myself will we have enough time on safari? Are we going to be bored on the island? What happens when I get sick? (I do this wherever I go.) And most pressing, where can I find a safari shirt? Khaki shirts in my size seem to have disappeared out of the stores and off the web.
This trip started, as do most of my trips, with some literary impetus. Approximately three years ago a friend asked if I wanted Jack Couffer’s book, Cats of Lamu.So, instead of her tossing it in with some old clothes for the battered women’s shelter sale, I tossed it onto the pile of books in my office. Occasionally, when I had some spare time, I looked at the stunning photos of wild cats wandering along an African beach or ensconced between colorful houses. One day, I had excessive time to spare. I read about the cats and life on the island. Hooked. I wanted to experience Lamu.
Then, last May, another friend informed me she was planning a trip to Kenya that included Lamu. I decided to tag along.
Now, a month to go, having done all the detail stuff related to travel, I’m mentally preparing myself. I read Beryl Markham’s West Into the Night, Isak Dinesen’s Out of Africa and Sara Wheeler’s Too Close To The Sun: The Audacious Life And Times of Denys Finch Hatton. There’s lots of overlap among these books, but they all contribute to a mental photo of Kenya in the early twentieth century. Although this Kenya has disappeared it is part of whatever I will find there. Since we mostly travel in others’ footsteps, I like to know who went before. Knowing informs, deepens and enriches my sightseeing. Perhaps I’ll be nostalgic for a place, ambiance and people I only know through my imagination.
On the other hand, for current reality, I have a guidebook. I think that can wait until I’m on the plane. It is a long ride.
