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Dear Ron,

We met our safari guide Baraka Ng’wavi when we exited the
Kilimanjaro airport.

“Baraka means ‘a blessing,’ ” he told us with a wide smile. “You
are blessed.”

He was right. We were.

We were about to embark on a private safari -- just one guide
and the two of us. Eight days, seven nights. Yes, bucket list.

Our outfitter, Infinite Safari Adventures, had assigned him to us.
We had no idea what we would get. But the dice were rolled, they
came up seven, and we raked in the chips.

By the end of our week together Baraka had become not only
our driver-guide, but also our naturalist, historian, linguist and
sociologist. When we weren’t talking about the biological con-
nections among Acacia trees, ethylene gas, and giraffes we were
discussing Tanzanian infrastructure problems and its impact on
Baraka’s plan for farming onions.

As professional snoopers, we pestered him with questions but
he never seemed to mind. He took on any subject, from the en-
vironmental impact of Masai cattle herds to hyenas to tribal boys
with faces painted for circumcision ceremonies

On the drive from the airport to our first night’s lodging outside
the city of Arusha, we learned that Baraka was 40; he and his
wife, Mary, had three kids; he had been a safari guide for 15
years and with Infinite Safari Adventures for five. He had climbed
Kilimanjaro more than 50 times. He had studied for three years
at mechanic’s school and three more combining wildlife and
hospitality. Ethnically, he was of the Hehe tribe from south-cen-
tral Tanzania; he and Mary were devout Christians

Impromptu animal biology lesson from our
guide, Baraka Ng’wavi, in Tarangire National
Park; line of migrating wildebeests in the
Serengeti.

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