Kenya

Kenya is a bright place! It literally shines.The ocean glitters with sunlight welcoming all visitors, promising unforgettable experience.

People dressed in  bright colorful clothes wear real frank smiles and express their excitement from meeting us with wide opened happy eyes.Having indulged in Kenyan lifestyle was a stirring experience and left an indelible impression on me.

People in Kenya are undeniably happier than many burnt out educated and developed nationalities.Despite the poverty and misery they are happy, filled with love for each other and have a strong spirit of community. They are living in a world with no high society expectations , so they take  joy in the little they have and tend to invent things themselves using easily available materials. And that makes them so proud. I loved their art and crafts – a real tribute to the creativity of the locals.I saw a great satisfaction and pride in their eyes while showing me their crafts, handmade beaded necklaces beautifully colored and turned into a special authentic jewelries, a masterly handmade pottery that can bring individuality and a soulful nature of their households, hand carved wooden figurines, paintings.

Wherever i drove there were children in their neat uniforms walking miles to get to their school, waving us and requesting to be photographed. I saw them minding their younger siblings, carrying water in plastic cans, helping their mothers and smiling through it.

Summarizing I can tell I saw in their eyes sorrow and sadness, even fear, a lot of curiosity but at the end the one dominated it was a happiness.

I did fall in love with this African country. With its diverse wildlife habitats, its great rift valleys and lakes, its prolific bird life and rich culture and crafts…

Kenya has always been the iconic home of the safari, immortalized by legendary writers such as Ernest Hemingway. As he said after his journey in Kenya : “I could not convince myself that we had come to such a wonderful country, a country from which we had to come out of a dream, happy to have dreamed”. That’s exactly the way i felt after my magical trip to Kenya. I was so close to wildlife that i could almost reach out and touch them. What  a great satisfaction that came with photographing zebra  with those clean monochromatic stripes giving it a look of perfection, or the giraffe who represents the pure elegance and simplicity in the Savannah. But there is no gaze more powerful in the bush than the look and determination in a Lions eyes.We had the great luck and chance to witness a lions mating -the way they were acting was so incredible and intimate .The powerful and impressive lion was full of vigour, showing his confidence and at the same time still giving a respect and kind affection to his lioness.