When I tell people about my time in Africa, in Kenya, I invariably get the question "So what is it that draws you to there?"

And inevitably I start my answer with “I don’t really know.”  And that’s because, I don’t really know.  I’ve thought about that over time though, and it must be a little confusing to people how I can profess such an attraction to a specific place, but not really know why.

 

There are, of course, some basics that influence this: the animal life there, the nomadic tribes that are such a draw to me, the remote aspect of being in the deserts of northern Kenya, to name a few, but those are only physical, specific things.  They have a huge influence on why I’m so drawn there, but they are not the reason.

 

After thinking about it, I finally realized that it is like being in love.  You know that you are in love, but you don’t really know what that “being in love” is.  You can list all these attributes about the person that attract you to them, all the little mannerisms that you find adoring, (that in fact, might annoy the hell out of you coming from someone else), but the love itself is something that can’t be defined.  That may be why there is so much poetry and art devoted to this, because it is something that can’t be expressed in words and direct thoughts, and so needs to come through only in symbols.

 

And so it is the same with an attraction such as this.  I’ve been to many places in the world, and so many of them are truly amazing, and have truly wonderful aspects about them.  There are places about which I could list as many things that draw me there as Kenya does, but none of them capture my heart in the same way.

 

So in a way, it is a love affair, a love affair with a place, a people, a land with certain aromas and characteristics, a sky at dusk that leaves one in awe, and herds of zebra grazing by the side of the road, as natural as can be.

 

But it isn’t always easy to convey that, especially to people that haven’t traveled, certainly to people that haven’t traveled to some exotic destination that they fell in love with, and wish they would never have to leave again.  So I do the best I can, sometimes stumbling through it, simply trying to find out where they are and how I can relate this best to them.

 

In the end though, I’m drawn to Kenya, and I really don’t know why.