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I Bless The Rains Down In Africa

Life can move so fast that before you know it you're walking down a street in Mexico savouring some local mezcal telling stories about this one time in Kenya...
Above: The rains falling over the Mara as seen from Angama Mara

I couldn't stop thinking about it then, travelling with others who had experienced the same special part of the country as we had. I couldn't stop thinking about Angama Mara and the beauty of the Maasai Mara but mostly I couldn't get the image of my two boys driving through this far-north wilderness with me, side by side.

For a moment I was back in that hot air balloon with my favourite people, again blissfully aware of how possible, how right, how essential it is to travel with little ones. The extended family was along for the ride - sisters, brothers, cousins, aunts, uncles, husbands, wives.

Soaring up over the edge of the Great Rift Valley, there were many things that came to mind. Things like Robert Redford and Meryl Streep, for one, since Angama shares its location with the site where scenes from Out of Africa were filmed. And the beauty of earth. This region is all the romance of Africa, all the films and books and campfire stories. It is nature so vast and at peace with itself - lion, leopard, cheetah, thousands of buffalo, rare black rhino and magnificent herds of elephant, living alongside people who have known this land for much, much longer than any of us. Who understand it in a way we can only hope to learn from. The Maasai.

This is why we travel - not to have our ways and routines recreated, but to have them contrasted, shattered, to have new ways, cultures, illuminate the vastness of life. To discover the infinite possibilities of how to live, and how to live better. It's no good to simply see and surmise, the joy and purpose comes from the mixing, the merging, the meeting.

Learning about Maasai life in this way, about pastoralists in this part of the world was something quite remarkable. Although let's not take spear-throwing practice back home, boys. To the city or to the Zambezi. Let's try that drawing thing again.

The other memories that flood back in moments like this are both simple and grand - like getting closer to nature, dancing in a downpour, as the heavens opened up above us all - man, animal, land - and belting out as a family with rainbows in the background, Toto's "I bless the rains down in Ahhhh-frica!" Our African hearts soared. Our human hearts soared.

There were meals outside on the plains, fiery sunsets, indoor card games, star-gazing, searching for wild animals and getting the names of the birds right. Being away. Being together. Some were moments we can recreate at home, and others we'll just have to return to the Maasai Mara for.

Discover more about the child-friendly safari of Angama Mara here.

As published by Tina Aponte on the T & Sons Blog 

Filed under: The Mara

Tagged with:

Angama Mara , Children on Safari , Family Safari , Maasai Mara , Mara Landscapes , Mara Sky , Rain in the Mara

About: Tina Aponte

Tina Aponte is Managing Director and Owner of Royal Chundu, a beautiful 5 star lodge on the banks of the Zambezi River, just upstream from the Victoria Falls in Zambia. Her blog, T & Sons maps travels of her and her sons as they explore different parts of Africa and the world, as well as their adventures of living on the banks of the Zambezi River.

Browse all articles by Tina Aponte Meet the angama team

Keep Reading

This Week At Angama #117 1 May 2020 As the rains fall across the Maasai Mara, the grasslands collectively let out a deep calming breath. This is Mother Nature’s time to heal By Adam Bannister
This Week At Angama #61 5 April 2019 Three or four times a week, I head out into the Maasai Mara in search of animals. My aim? Not just to take photographs, but rather to create them. It is in freezing these moments in time that I truly appreciate what a privilege it is to live in this remarkable place By Adam Bannister
This Week At Angama #121 29 May 2020 The grass is turning a light shade of brown and distant plumes of smoke are rising in the south. Could it be that at last the rains are easing up? By Adam Bannister
The Best Things to do in Kenya 18 August 2020 While we already know about the iconic Kenyan attractions like the Maasai Mara and the Swahili coastline – there are all sorts of incredible secret spots which, for the most part, only locals know about By Sue van Winsen
Join the Conversation (6 comments)

Comments (6):

calvin

10 June 2022

Looking for your resident rates for 2 nts (June 18 - 20) 3 kids (ages 8, 10, and 17) and 2 adults

    Charlotte Ross Stewart

    13 June 2022

    Hello, we would be so happy to have you and your family stay with us. Please send an email to [email protected] with all your questions and one of our travel planners will be in touch. Thanks, Charlotte

Carol Maasch

2 July 2019

I do not normally comment publicly on posts, but after reading your beautifully written Blog, I have to commend you Tina. I am a mother of 2 with the same love for Africa. Over the years, every opportunity we get we travel Africa. You have a fan and I am certainly following your Blogs .... wishing you and your boys tons of travelling fun ahead in Africa !!!!!

    Nicky Fitzgerald

    3 July 2019

    Dear Carol Thank you so . much for this lovely feedback which I will share with Tina. I know she will be delighted. Warm regards Nicky

Erika

28 May 2019

Your lodge seems like a very cozy place! Maasai Mara was my first safari destination and I'm looking forward to go back in a heartbeat! :)

    Nicky Fitzgerald

    29 May 2019

    Thank you for this lovely comment Erica - and we all look forward to welcoming you back to the Mara soon

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