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Dana Atkinson

Slimy Bastards

Slimy Bastards

For so much of my life I have been completely afraid of frogs. The fear was passed to me from my mother. As a young teen I watched her nearly break her neck on the cement patio when a small green frog jumped onto her shoulder. I was sure by her reaction that frogs must be as venomous as snakes with teeth as plentiful as a shark. As she flailed her body across the patio straight into a wall, knees first then kissed the brick, I prayed she would get the animal off of her in

Morning Lion Tracks

Morning Lion Tracks

There aren’t many moments of my past that I can put myself back into completely - sight, sound and smell – just by closing my eyes except for memories of experiences in Africa. Today I was telling my hairdresser about a morning in Zambia when I heard talking outside my tent. I opened my eyes and rolled over to where I could see out my tent door. I saw my two guides pointing to the sandy floor of our riverside camp. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, then sat up and tried t

Breast Fed Cheetahs

Breast Fed Cheetahs

I had the privilege recently of flying next to a wonderful black woman named Hester, both of us traveling back to Atlanta from Ohio. She was near eighty years old; raised in the United States in Mississippi back in the 1930's and 40's. I was completely intrigued by her magnificent stories of her sharecropper father and being raised in that day in time. She had married young and has several children right away then her young husband went off to war and never made it home sh

Dancing Along the Light of Day

Dancing Along the Light of Day

I was walking my dog in the park one beautiful fall morning when Train's song Drops of Jupiter came blaring into my earbuds; with it floods of memories from my six month long trip to Africa rushed into my mind; specifically a moment in Malawi sitting alone under a thatched roof umbrella . I remembered sitting there with tears flowing down my cheek realizing my return flight to the States was only a couple weeks away. Drops of Jupiter was getting heavy play on the radio befo

Brave Housecat vs the Wildlife

Brave Housecat vs the Wildlife

You may not think of a house cat as particularly brave but I know one little kitty in Africa who gives meaning to the word and exemplifies the kind of courage I try to muster up when I am there among the wildlife. I was getting dressed after a nice shower in my room of the Maasai Mara Sopa Lodge late one evening when I heard hyena making their signature hoooo whop sound not far away. They had gathered for the nightly feeding by the lodge of food scraps; an event that had bee

Comfortable or Careless

Comfortable or Careless

During a trip to Africa - specifically Kruger National Park - I did the most careless thing I have yet to do there. I almost ran out of gas among a plethora of wildlife. I have yet to decide if it's good that I was so chilled and comfortable in Africa that I didn't think of such a basic thing which is so unlike me, or if it was bad to be so comfortable I got careless, which in Africa could be a matter of life or death. My plan was to stop in the next camp and grab something

Out of My Comfort Zone

Out of My Comfort Zone

I lived daily in a tightly wound comfort zone; doing things that were strictly within my norm. But that was before my first trip to Africa. After that first trip, I found myself without any boundaries at all, with only the word yes coming out of mouth when an opportunity to stretch my limits came my way. One such opportunity came in May of 2004. I found myself with twelve days on my hands and nothing on my agenda, so I contacted Dean at African Bundu Safaris in Durban, Sou

Mr. Crocodile!

Mr. Crocodile!

I always try to be aware of what is around me when in Africa among the wildlife. Animals of all kind are assuredly lurking, waiting for an opportunity of one kind or another. I don't want to be that opportunity. But sometimes I lose myself in my book, journal, in the scenery or just in nothingness. One late afternoon after a brilliant day in Samburu, Kenya at the Samburu Lodge I was sitting on a lower level patio filled with chairs and tables watching day turn to night. T

Smiling at Monkeys

Smiling at Monkeys

There was a time when I was completely comfortable getting down on the ground in front of a vervet monkey taking photos then following him or her to take more. I have several close photos to prove that there was a time I did not fear primates. That all changed during a trip to Africa in 2007. I was staying at a fenced camp and walked mid-day from my hut to the perimeter of the camp to sit on a bench to read. I was carrying only my camera, a can of local beer and a book. B

The Frightening Massai Warrior

The Frightening Massai Warrior

I was admired yesterday for what I believe this person thought was bravery for traveling Africa alone. "If it bleeds, it leads," is the old media insider's slogan. With that slogan fear is instilled in many about the continent of Africa. And in fact, I appreciate that fear as I too have shared it in the past. How could you not when the majority of what is broadcast about Africa is war, corruption, famine and crime? Before traveling to Kenya, I read about the Mau Mau revolu

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Soap Opera of the African Night

Soap Opera of the African Night

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