Please spend only a few minutes watching this exquisite video from National Geographic. You won’t be disappointed and doing so will further explain the nature of today’s post.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/Hodomt6bBOw
The above video reminded us of photos we’ve taken during our travels in the past 30 months.
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| A lone female stopping for a drink. The edge of the open vehicle is shown in this photo illustrating how close we were to her. |
Yesterday afternoon I noticed an email in my inbox from Tom. I must admit that he sends me a few items each week. When we began to travel he finally dispensed per my request with all those endless jokes and stories.
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| Hippos along the Mara River while we were on safari in the Maasai Mara. |
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| Crocodiles sunning along the Mara River. |
As much as I enjoy a good laugh like anyone, I prefer not to spend time each day riffling through a pile of email messages, reading jokes and stories.
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| The Cape Buffalo, one of the Big 5. |
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| The cheetah and leopard are distinguishable by the cheetah’s tear lines running down her face, as shown here. |
As a matter of fact, once I’ve completed posting here each day, take care of necessary business and respond to emails from our readers, I prefer to spend as little time at my computer as possible.
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| A female lion looking for the next meal. The lion is the second of the Big 5. |
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| The pride of lions from which we took the above photo of what appeared to be a mom. |
My computer is kept on all day allowing me to occasionally check for email, new comments, and to receive phone calls from family and friends. We have a Skype phone number for which we pay $5 a month since we have no cell contracts on our phones, using SIM cards in other countries that aren’t available in the US without a contract (unreal).
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| In the first 10 hours on safari, we saw the Big 5. The black rhino is one of the Big 5. (The leopards and elephants we saw are a part of the Big which will be shown tomorrow). Note the birds which are oxpeckers who eat the bugs off of the rhinos and other wildlife’s hides. |
Anyway, yesterday afternoon I received an email from my dear husband who now sends me only pertinent information or something he knows I’ll love seeing. When he sent me this National Geographic video yesterday and I began to watch it, I nearly wept.
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| Males lions are always on the lookout for a female making a kill. Why? So he can steal the kill from her. |
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| This male was dozing in the bright sun. The Maasai Mara is cool in the morning |
It’s five minutes long but, I promise you won’t regret taking the five minutes of your life to watch it. For us, the content was profound. As I watched it with Tom watching it a second time with me, my mouth was agape at the wonder of it all, especially for one particular reason…
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| A turtle climbing a hill to greet us. |
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| We traveled across rough terrain to Tanzania to catch the tail end of the Great Migration. |
It reminded us of all that we have done and seen thus far in our travels and, all that we have yet to do and see in the future.
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| We couldn’t resist posting this contented lion who was, at the time, engaged in a mating ritual with the female about 15 feet from him, leaning on another tree. |
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| Giraffes are a thrill to watch. This one was very close to us allowing me to take this headshot. Their cheeks are often puffed up due to the manner in which they eat storing the greenery in their cheeks. |
The video inspired us in writing today and posting some previously posted photos. Somehow, we felt compelled to share them with our readers, including many new readers, as to the reasons and motivations that inspired us to travel the world. Also, we selfishly wanted to see them once again to remind us of how blessed we have been to live this astounding life.
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| Within hours of our arrival in Marloth Park, two moms and seven babies aka piglets, not all shown in these photos. This family became daily visitors to our yard. |
Life. It’s all about life. It’s about the gift of life I’ve been given with renewed health by changing my diet making it possible for me to have a 34-hour travel day from airport to airport and continue to be “overly bubbly” without a word of complaint or exhaustion.
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| This was one of the first zebras we spotted in Marloth Park, a fluffy baby, aka foal. |
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| An adult male zebra standing under our carport on a hot day. |
It’s about the life I’ve been given to be able to make the three-hour walk to Petra in Jordan, the trek down to the Queen’s Bath in Kauai, and every tough trek in between, all over the world, at times in 100-degree (40C) weather, at times sitting outside all day in the heat waiting to see who may stop by for a visit.
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| Males hang out together. We never saw a female and a male together other than when mating. On this particular day, we had seven zebras visit although only five are shown in this photo as they depart. They’d had their fill of our attention and nutritional pellets and were on their way after a one hour stay. |
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| Male impalas will graze with the females and fawns. |
None of this would have been possible 44 months ago. And then I say, “Life, so good, so solid, so much fun with this man I met almost 24 years ago, who never seemed like the kind of guy who’d suggest this life, embrace this life and ultimately love this peculiar life we live.”
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| One day, over 100 impalas visited our yard. |
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| There were monitor lizards in our yard, occasionally making an appearance from their holes in the ground. They were very cautious and skittish making it tricky to take photos. |
So today, we share this video with our readers to celebrate life on a regular day, not an anniversary, not a milestone day but just any day in the life of two people traveling the world for years to come seeking, searching, and savoring every nook and cranny of the world for signs of “life.”
Stay with us, dear readers, there’s so much more yet to come including an amazing story of a special place in Kauai forty years ago.
Photo from one year ago today, April 17, 2014:
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| Tom had a haircut in Marrakech but wasn’t thrilled with the way to charges were handled. Please check here for details. |
This was a beautiful post, Jessica – so uplifting and a wonderful reminder of how each day is a gift to be opened and enjoyed. Thank you!
Staci, thank you so much. Your feedback means the world to us. We're so in awe of the experiences we've had and look forward to many more, including meeting the two of you!
Thanks for staying in touch. Many of our readers prefer to stay in the background which we understand and appreciate. But, when we hear from wonderful people like you, it warms our hearts to know we're giving a little joy to the lives of others.
Much love,
Jess & Tom