The best, most interesting, and adventuresome trips we ever took were our two Kenya, Africa safaris.

When you go to a zoo, you are free to walk around and see the animals in a cage or in a confined area. On safari, you are in the "cage." In most cases the "cage" is a van with a pop up roof that allows you to stand up when the van is stopped. This provides for much better views and allows for much better opportunities for taking photos or panoramic views with a video camera. The animals are free to roam throughout their territory. You aren't.

We were in a van near a waterhole where many species of wildlife come to drink. In the distance there was a knoll and suddenly a huge elephant, the matriarch or "boss," followed by about a dozen other elephants came into view. They were heading our way. They stopped at the waterhole about a dozen feet away. It was totally awesome! If you ever felt insignificant this was the time; we felt like ants.

Elephants are a marvel. They can use their head and powerful legs to uproot large trees. And yet they can pluck a single leaf off a tree with their trunk.

Cheetas are members of the cat family. They are much smaller than the lion. They have beautiful spotted fur coats and unfortunately, in the past, they have been killed so women could wear their fur coats. They are a thrill to see, especially when you are 20 feet away and watch their cubs playfully chasing each other. They are the fastest animals on earth. They have been clocked to run in short burst at sixty mile per hour!

The Black Mane Lion, the king of the beasts, is equally awesome but in a different way. A 600-pound male can take down and kill a wildebeest as large as a horse and kill it by either breaking the neck or by suffocation with its powerful jaws clamped like a vise around the victims throat. Actually the female lion is more deadly than the male.

The migration of the wildebeest is unbelievable. Wildebeests look something like a horse but with a goatee and horns. Actually they look like the devil. From horizon to horizon, as far as the eye can see, wildebeests travel at a specific time of the year to new grazing grounds.

We happened to be there during their annual migration. Wildebeests were backed up along the Mara River bank by the millions waiting to cross to the other side. But they were waiting for one brave soul to go first. Why? Because they have to literally jump off a cliff to get to the water. Would you jump off a fifty -foot cliff into a river that is full of crocodiles to get to the other side? All it takes is one crazy but brave wildebeest to jump. Once that first one jumps they all follow and that is where you have a "traffic jam!" The first ones in the water can't swim fast enough to avoid the millions that are to follow. So a lot of them drown. There are dead wildebeests all along the river. Pity the poor young calves who, if they survive, have to find their mothers in this "sea of animals." Then there are the crocodiles waiting for a meal. There is plenty of "food" for all.