You know that feeling you get right before a roller
coaster drops over the big hill? The one where your
heart rate picks up and your throat meets your
stomach mushed somewhere in the middle of other
vital organs; where your rational brain convinces you
that the physics checks out, but you can't help but
be overcome with uncertainty? That is how we felt
less than 24 hours after touching down in Kenya. We
found ourselves feet from a head that seemed larger
than the diameter of a car's tire staring back at us,
and it was full of teeth. We met our first lioness!
This was only the beginning of many experiences
that would leave us in awe during our Roundsquare
collaboration Travel to Kenya with Holy Innocents
Episcopal School from Atlanta. We went in search of the
Roundsquare IDEALS —Internationalism, Democracy,
Environmentalism, Adventure, Leadership, and
Service— but found much more in the Maasai Mara.
The word mara roughly translates into "dotted plains"
in the Maasai's native language. It was easy to see
why that name had been given to the ecosystem as we
flew in two 12-passenger planes from Nairobi into the
middle of the bush. Vast plains reached for as far as
the eye could see as we flew over the great rift valley.
F I N D I N G
F R I E N D S
M A A S A I
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A ROUNDSQUARE TRIP TO KENYA
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PALMERTRINITY.ORG
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