You Learn Something Every Day

It's true.  Over the past three weeks, I truly learned something new...every day.  For example:

A sounder of warthogs
A herd of cape buffalos
A confusion of wildebeests
A tower of giraffes - when they're just standing around
A journey of giraffes - when they're on the move, caravan style
A pride of lions
A raft, bloat, or pod of hippopotamuses
A herd of elephants
A flight of storks
A coalition of cheetahs
A crash of rhinos
A bask of crocodiles
A troop of baboons
A barrel of monkeys - I'm not kidding

I admit I went to Africa loaded with stereotypes.  Every one of them was obliterated.  The people, while abjectly poor, are generous, warm, quick-to-smile, funny, and happy to help.  The food is amazing.  It's a hard push - as a Texan - for me to say the best fillet I've ever had was in Johannesburg.  The spices run the gamut from hot to sweet to earthy.  The colors, the languages, the shopping, all both clashing and abiding.  The accommodations are 5-star for a 2-star price.  The landscape is scrubby, sandy, lush, vine-y, and prolific.  The animals are jaw-dropping.  And they are everywhere; you can't afford to blink, you might miss something.  And the list of things to do and see is as long as a giraffe's neck.  I can't wait to return.

I may have taken a big bite out of Africa.  But it has bitten me back.