They were enormous, I have never seen them before. There were too many, they were migrating for sure, they were real fun to look at, and every time a car passes by, they stop and stare as if they know what they are looking at, they are truly wild, wild like the rays of the sun, nothing can stop them and nothing can dilute them, they are there when they rise.
We planned to try all the camping options during out trip. We booked a night in a Semi-Luxury camp, a night in a regular camp and a night in a luxury camp. The semi-luxury camp was great, we had our private bathroom inside the tent, and we had a separate beautiful tent for breakfast and dinner. We hear the roar of lions at night and the sound of other wild animals. The regular camp was the most adventurous, as we literally have seen a hyena before going to bed, they offered a shared bathroom hall that were located a minute walking distance but was still unfavored and not recommended to be used during the night time, and a cafeteria serving both breakfast and dinner, the food was poorly done, but the experience was incredible. Our luxury camp which I was truly looking forward to was a total rip off. It was located outside of Serengeti, yet outside the wild, it was just like any hotel. It was a beautiful hotel, but luxury camps inside Serengeti offer an unforgettable experience which i totally recommend, even if you have to put a few hundred bucks on top of your budget, do it, you will never regret it, just make sure you see photos of what it will look like and compare it with other luxury camps available.
Creative Writing on my Safari Experience:
When love is nature,
And nature is love,
When looking at earth as a one big piece of art,
When nothing makes sense because everything makes pure sense,
When life taps you on the shoulder to tell you one word, Love.
Because without love, nothing is nourished,
Because without love, everything is dead.
Because to love we belong,
And without love we can never belong.
Because seeing this world can change like every climate,
We choose to see things the way we wish to see them,
We can always look on the other side, but there is always someone looking into our side,
Because no one knows how long we will stay where we are,
And how far we can go to where we want to go,
Life can be a puzzle or a simple passage,
A passage that we can curate or walk through accepting all possible changes,
Life is nothing but a piece of big art,
Big huge painting that can never be framed because it is always changing,
Free of one criteria and free of one identity,
It is open, and spacious, it is multinational and diverse,
It is made for everyone and yet made to no one,
It is so random, yet it so miraculous,
It is always a reflection of what we seek to see,
So seek for good, seek for love, and be that love you wish to see.
Ramadan Lesson number Two:
Let go; by giving, by sharing, by opening up. Let everything within you go. Let your attachments go, let your words go, let your thoughts go, just let go. Free yourself from your own self, and learn to let everything go.
Holding on to anything will cause us pain eventually, and in life, we happen to stumble over and over again onto obstacles and illusions that we only cause upon our self. One way to look at this is how to give without expecting back, how to love without expecting back, how to speak without expecting back, how to share without expecting back.
Train our souls, to give for the sake of the Divine, allow yourself to be His instrument, allow yourself to be the flower that moves with the wind, allow yourself to be the balloon that was set free by the little boy, allow yourself to be the bird that sings. Allow yourself to travel in life, to bring joy to yourself and to others. Practice by giving. Give once each day without wanting back, give for the sake of this earth to grow more greens, give for it to glow, and give for it to multiply.
We always want something back, and we always get so much back, but we forget, we become greedy, we train ourselves to become selfish and greedy. If I am not getting a response, I am never calling again, If I am not being loved, I am no longer loving, if I am not getting paid, I am no longer working. We always want something back, and it is good to get things back, but don’t be one of those who always want something back, who when you don’t get what you expect, you become upset and angry, you loose your joyous self, you loose your light, you loose your human element and become a greedy, grumpy human being.
Learn to let go, to let go of your expectations and thoughts, learn to give for no return, learn to give because you know there is a Divine, because there is something more powerful than you and everyone else, that there is something coming back to you always in different forms, in ways that we find are magical, in ways that we find no answers to, in ways that we can not predict or expect, we just receive, so give in that same way, in that way when you surprise people, when you put a smile into their hearts, when you put light into their eyes, give and ask for nothing back, want nothing back and expect nothing back.
We think being in a cage keeps us protected, keeps them protected, we think we are doing our selves and one another a favor when we put a cage around us. But birds were born free, we were born free, we learn things as we grow, we are who we are when we are set free. Yes, we can trip, and fall, we can do mistakes, and the chances of making mistakes are high, but without them, how do we know what life is? Who we truly are? Stop putting a cage around us, around each other, accept your children as they come, as they grow, as they rebel, just be there, watch them, protect them, listen to them, speak to them, but don’t put a cage around them. Don’t prevent your children from exploring life and the colors it is painted with, let them fly as far as they want and where ever their instincts take them. Don’t try to change the way they speak or dress or sing, don’t force them to make you proud just to make you feel better about yourself. The best feelings ever is seeing your loved ones spread their wings on their own and fly, the best feeling is to see that their wings are different from any other, and that they are still as beautiful or even more beautiful. Allow them to settle, allow them to be, independent or dependent, allow them to be silent, or speak their brains out, allow them to perform, or to be isolated, allow them to try. But be there to listen, to watch, to care, to love, to praise, to reflect, to smile, to hug, be there to make them feel they are not alone. Set them free.
Click here for the full Safari experience.
Face to Face. The lion really looked me in the eye. Do they have names? I am not sure how it goes, but to us, all lions are called a lion. Maybe if I happen to live between them, I will have to start naming them. Well in the photos below, there are three different lions. And one of them seem to have trouble with his eyes. He actually looked scary.
During my Safari trip, the first animal we saw as soon as we entered the Serengeti Park was the lion. It really felt out of this world, to see a lion. I mean I probably have seen a lion before in some zoo, but just to see a lion, right there, just free in his own jungle, that felt incredible, out of this world, blank. You just would forget everything and just concentrate, zoom in into that lion, and try to understand its presence.
We were over 10 different safari cars, all parked, one after the other, filled with people who have their heads out of the car’s roof, staring at the lion. And the lion, is just sitting there, looking back at us, looking around the jungle, turning and rolling over. I have a cat, at home. And the lion really reminded me of my cat. After all it is from the cat family, and they really act alike. They pretend they don’t see you, even though they would stare at you, but then they would yawn, and turn, and lie down, and sleep, as if you are not there. They give you the feeling that “they just don’t care”.
Serengeti Park, Tanzania.
Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it. Rumi
Razan Masri 