The Globetrotting Diaries: The Birds and the Bees (and the Lions) in Kenya

“Lions and birds and bees, oh my!”

My wife, daughter and I travelled to Kenya on a private safari years ago when my daughter was just 10 years old, a great age to let a child experience Africa. On a game drive one day, we came upon two courting lions in a savannah within the Masai Mara Game Reserve. Our safari driver/guide drove us as close as he dared in order not to disturb the lions. After sitting in silence for a while watching the lion’s mating routine, my 10-year-old daughter said to me, “Daddy, what are they doing?”

Not usually one at a loss for words, I found myself speechless. After what seemed to me an eternity of thinking what words I should not, could not, use and how best to explain what we were witnessing, my dear wife rescued me from clueless speechlessness by gently advising our daughter that “the lions are just showing how they love one another.” 

Well said my dear, and oh my…. This is a travel experience I’ll never forget.