February 6th 2009, 10:09
Being at the park in time for sunrise was my bright idea, but I was alright once I was in the shower. It was still dark when we arrived at the park, and Francis was annoyed that by the time the gates were open to let us in, the sun had risen well into the sky. But in fact, the timing was perfect. There was enough light for photos, and everything was bathed in a warm, golden glow and a silky cloak of early morning mist.
I’d thought we’d have to work hard to find the animals, but in fact, they seemed to want to find us. Like guests on the stairs at a house party, the animals hung around the road, perhaps car spotting ('Ooh! A BMW!'). I wasn’t at all prepared to see ostriches hanging around with zebras and giraffes, somehow I'd assumed they'd be in groups, but they all looked very relaxed and disinclined to species segregation. I had never really been that bothered by going on safari, seeing it as a tourist thing, the definition of the beaten track, but it was completely and utterly bonkers.
We didn’t see any lions, although Francis swears blind he saw one, and we did see a bunch of big deer type things suddenly gallop off as if they’d sensed one, but I was more than satisfied by the giraffes alone. We got to tick off the lions at the orphanage near the entrance to the park. A fellow visitor became increasingly confident as he edged closer to the bars just the other side of which a lion was lounging legs akimbo on a bale of hay. When it let out a long, rumbling growl, his trust in the cage suddenly vanished and he sprang off in sheer, primal panic. That was funny.
Just as we were leaving, Bill rang. Instead of calling to arrange a place to meet, he was actually at the park, although it took another 20 minutes for us to find each other, people who’d never met each other before and who’d forgotten to ask about distinguishing features. Finally, we recognised each other's hesitant walk and questioning expression, the sure sign of people waiting to meet someone for the first time, introduced ourselves and immediately, Bill fulfilled his promise to take us to Kibera, the largest slum in Africa.
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