I met a boy on a railroad track.

We were on the famous Rovos Rail from Pretoria to Victoria Falls—think British high society, complete with afternoon tea. One night we stopped in the middle of nowhere, just outside a small village in Zimbabwe.

I was up early, one of the first awake, sitting alone in the open-air observation car at the rear of the train. Sunrise. Solitude. Latte in hand.

I looked down as a boy approached and stood quietly below me, looking up.

We tried to communicate with his broken English. I asked him his name several times, but could never quite make it out. We laughed and talked about his life and dreams….sharing a good while together. I loved his youthful enthusiasm, curiosity, and playfulness.

I was struck by the chasm between his world and mine. And yet—by our ability to connect as fellow humans. I’m glad I met the boy. I wish I had gotten his name.

Thank you, God, for the boy.

Toodling and Noodling,

Stan

Vicky and I planned our Africa trip to coincide with the Great Migration.  There are few spectacles on Earth that can match the scale and drama of the Great Migration. Every year millions of wildebeest, joined by vast herds of zebra and giraffe, trace a circular path across the Serengeti in Tanzania and the Maasai Mara in Kenya. They are driven by an ancient rhythm—following the rains and chasing green grasses.  Along the way, all kinds of predators feast on them.  Lions and leopards on land….crocs and hippos at the river crossings. Wildebeast are the all-you-can-eat buffet of the animal world – much like salmon.  Each scene is both beautiful and brutal, a raw reminder of life’s constant struggle and renewal.

I thought about the countless animals on land and sea that die each day in God’s creation so that life is perpetually renewed.  God is clearly not as squeamish about death as we are.  Considering death in God’s creation helps us keep earthly life in perspective – a beautiful and brief gift.   

Thank you God for our hope for much more in Christ – our own Great Migration!

Toodling and Noodling, Stan

The Maasai stand out – even in an Africa full of tribes. Tall, wrapped in bright shukas, carrying spears or cell phones—or sometimes both. They are known as warriors, but even more as herders.

Maasai are deeply tied to cows.  Cows are sacred to Maasai – giving them milk, blood (they drink it), meat, hides—everything they need. Their religious belief is that God gave all cattle uniquely to them. 

Once feared raiders, they pushed into East Africa in the 1800s searching for grasslands.  But the modern world steadily encroached.  Warriors have become tour guides. Cattle herders send children to Nairobi schools. Cell towers sprouted in the savanna.

Maasai still jump in the warrior’s dance, pierce their ears, and herd cattle. At the same time, they carry smartphones, wear soccer jerseys, and negotiate land rights in courtrooms. Some are turning their grazing lands into conservancies, trading cattle for tourist dollars. Our safari guide, Saruni, was a Maasai in the middle of the transition.  He mostly wore Maasai garb and held to many traditions, yet he seemed “westernized”.  His parents are staunch traditionalists while his children surf the web and game with friends around the world.

Like so many cultures, the Maasai are struggling to maintain their distinctive identity in a modern globalized world.  That feels like trying to hold back the sea.  

Thank you God for the Maasai.

Toodling and Noodling, Stan

In Pretoria our tour guide told us he was a member of the Lemba tribe who trace their roots back to the Jewish priestly line of Aaron, the brother of Moses. For centuries their story has been dismissed as folklore. But genetics has given their claims unexpected weight.

Lemba traditions are rich with echoes of Judaism. They practice circumcision, observe ritual animal slaughter resembling kosher laws, avoid pork, and venerate a sacred object called the ngoma lungundu—a large wooden drum they associate with the Ark of the Covenant. 

In the 1990s, geneticists began testing the Lemba’s claims. They found unusually high frequencies of a genetic marker known as the Cohen Modal Haplotype (CMH) among Lemba men –strongly associated with Jewish priestly descent from Aaron. 

Scientists now suggest that sometime around 500 BC Lemba’s semetic ancestors migrated down to Africa from the Middle East.  This is another cool example of how genetics is helping us unveil deep layers of our human history.

Thank you God for the Lemba.

Toodling and Noodling, Stan

Our trip began in Cape Town, South Africa where we first heard of the San people—sometimes called “Bushmen”. The San are among the most ancient continuous cultures on earth – inhabiting the desert regions of South Africa, Namibia and Botswana.  Genetic studies have shown that the San trace back over 150,000 years, making them one of our closest living links to the earliest humans. We saw several San rock paintings, some dating back 30,000 years.

 Cool Facts About the San

• San use “clicks” in their language – notoriously hard for outsiders to master.
• Their skilled trackers can read the faintest signs—dust disturbances, bent grass – to follow an animal for days. 
• The average adult San man stands around 5’3” and woman 4’11”.
• San carry genetic adaptations to harsh desert living, including unusual cholesterol metabolism that helps them survive on lean wild foods.

The San remind me of Africa’s unique role as the cradle of early humanity. We all carry African DNA (and some Neanderthal as well).  The ability of genetics to shine light on our distant past is pretty cool.

Thank you God for the San.

Toodling and Noodling, Stan

At the southern tip of Africa lies a wonder of the natural world: the Cape Floral Kingdom. It is by far the smallest of the world’s seven floral kingdoms (see map), yet it harbors more than 9,000 plant species—two-thirds of them found nowhere else. The Proteas, Geraniums, African Lily, Bird of Paradise all originate in the Cape. While the other Floral Kingdoms span continents, the Cape packs its uniqueness into an area smaller than West Virginia. 

The Cape’s geographic isolation at the confluence of Atlantic and Indian ocean current create climate ripe for unique diversity.  Much of the Cape environment is harsh and the vegetation belongs to what locals call fynbos—an Afrikaan word from “fyn” meaning fine or delicate and “bos” or a bush/shrub,  Fynbos adapted to poor soils, fierce winds, and fire using ingenious survival strategies. Some rely on ants to disperse their seeds underground. Others require fire to germinate, ensuring that life springs again from the ashes. 

The Cape reminds me of the prolificness and creativity of God’s creation even in the harshest conditions.

Thank you God for the Cape Floral Kingdom.

Toodling and Noodling, Stan

Vicky and I were privileged to visit the last two northern white rhinos on Earth at Ol Pejeta Conservatory north of Nairobi.  They are both female – Najin and her daughter Fatu – and both are infertile. The Northern White rhino once roamed central Africa in large numbers, but relentless poaching has driven them to the edge of extinction.  It’s crazy that the poaching is based on the myth that the horns are an aphrodisiac when they are composed of keratin – the same stuff as our fingernails.

Scientists including those at Colossal Biosciences (based in Dallas) are mounting an audacious rescue effort, blending cutting-edge reproductive technologies with conservation ingenuity.

1. In Vitro Fertilization (IVF)
   Fatu still has eggs. Through highly delicate procedures, veterinarians have harvested and fertilized them with frozen sperm from long dead northern white males.  About 30 embryos have been created and are ready.
2. Surrogates
   Because neither Najin nor Fatu can carry a pregnancy, embryos are being implanted into southern white rhino females – their close genetic relative but more numerous. They are preparing a special section at Ol Pejeta to protect the new baby rhinos.
3. Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPSCs)
   Scientists are using a magical new technology called induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) – enabling them to turn preserved skin cells from deceased northern white rhinos back into their original pluripotent state at birth!  These iPSCs will then be “reprogrammed” into new white rhino egg and sperm cells!!  I will write more about iPSCs – a revolutionary new development in biology and science.  Google it.

If successful, this effort to rescue the northern white rhino will rewrite what’s possible in conservation biology – providing future lifelines for all endangered species.  

Thank you God for the northern white rhino and revealing new rescue possibilities.

Toodling and Noodling, Stan

Nothing turns a calm game drive into chaos quite like the word: “Lion!” Radios crackle. Jeeps converge from all directions in a frenzy. In minutes, a solitary lion becomes a spectacle worthy of Hollywood.

I am right in the middle of it — leaning out of the Jeep angling for the perfect shot, feeling the adrenaline surge of being in the presence of Africa’s apex predator. But the lion seemed utterly indifferent, blinking slowly at the commotion and flicking a tail with regal boredom. The true drama was not in the lion’s behavior but in ours.

It struck me that safari’s are as much sociology as zoology. Humans hunger for the novel and unique – and a story to bring home. There we were, supposedly escaping into nature, yet bringing with us celebrity culture. The lion became a star and we the paparazzi – desperate for proof of proximity. 

Safari is not just a window into African wildlife but a mirror into our own curious species. 

Toodling and Noodling, Stan

Africa greeted us with wildness in stereo sound. Our first night in a tent at Maasai Mari, just beyond the canvas, a pod of hippos bellowed all night, their grunts vibrating through the ground. The next night a cape buffalo brushed against the tent wall. Here was one of Africa’s most dangerous animals (a buffalo killed a hunter from Dallas recently), inches from our heads, separated only by fabric. Then he moved on, leaving us in the silence of our pounding hearts.

The next day our jeep stumbled onto a pride of lions feasting on a fresh kill. Cubs were crawling inside the carcass while the elders ripped off the flesh.  The scene was raw and bloody…and utterly indifferent to our presence. Cameras clicked, but the lions barely flicked an ear in our direction – as we sipped wine in a jeep hovering right above!

We found ourselves woven into animal life in ways that felt intimate: baboons nursing their young while we sat in a pontoon a few steps away; a leopard walking right beside the jeep with her cubs, eyeing us like we were a sideshow.

What struck me was how little notice the animals took of us. We were just part of the landscape—strange, but unworthy of alarm. For all our anticipation of wildness—they treated us as background noise. 

When we wanted to kill them they feared us – but with today’s protection they have fully adapted to our presence. And that is its own kind of wild – an astonishing capacity to adapt, absorb, bend…to continue on with life. 

Toodling and Noodling, Stan

Welcome to Reflections of an Africa tourist series!  Vicky and I thought “Reflections on Africa” sounds a bit pompous after a one month jaunt across a small part of a vast continent.  And we are definitely cognizant of the distortion of our lens as tourists. We started in Cape Town, South Africa (stunning) and then took the Rovos Rail (uppity) from Pretoria to Victoria Falls (waterfall heaven) with some safari days on the Chobe River (teeming). This was our first experience traveling with Road Scholar – a nonprofit travel group that incorporates a stronger educational component.  Very impressed.  Then we spent some time in the Maasai Mara chasing the Great Migration and Ol Pajeta  Conservatory north of Nairobi to see last two Northern White Rhino on Earth (both female and infertile…but there’s hope!).  Amazing part of our world!  I hope you enjoy the series over the coming weeks.

If you only visit two continents in your lifetime, visit Africa twice! – Paul Theroux

This is the first post of our “Notes From An African Tourist” series.  Click here to see the complete series.