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Stork Swarm in Mtowambu

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Stork Swarm in Mtowambu

Swarms of giant storks were suddenly everywhere. They were beyond counting. In the hundreds? For sure. Thousands? Maybe. Some circled slowly overhead, great wings outstretched. Many more rested, nested, and clattered their bills from poo-spangled trees. 

An Exceptional Experience: Students in the Biblical Heartland

An Exceptional Experience: Students in the Biblical Heartland

While not the excursion that we had planned, the Johnson University study-tour to Israel/Palestine turned into a real-world exercise. And the team responded magnificently.

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The Chicken of the Serengeti

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The Chicken of the Serengeti

Safari operators often speak of the "Big Five." This is a linger-longer from the blood-sport days. The phrase does not identify Africa's largest species, but rather the five most difficult/dangerous animals to hunt on foot.

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Noah's Ark in Africa

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Noah's Ark in Africa

In the story of Noah's Ark, a portion of the living world finds sanctuary in a pinch. I thought about that as our rig bounced down the steep track into Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania.

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The Eighth Wonder of the World: An African Mountain that became a Crater

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The Eighth Wonder of the World: An African Mountain that became a Crater

The land yawned like a Wyoming dawn. The opportunity in front of us was equally wide. We had a full day to spend in Ngorongoro Crater and I was pumped.

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Visiting Tarangire National Park, Tanzania

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Visiting Tarangire National Park, Tanzania

Zebras and wildebeests drank the muddy water, flicked their tails, rolled in the dust, and fussed with each other. It may have just been in my head, but somewhere I could hear the soundtrack of "The Lion King" playing.

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The Safari as Journey: My Introduction to Bush Country

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The Safari as Journey: My Introduction to Bush Country

We pitched our duffels and then ourselves into Saidi's knobby-wheeled truck. Saidi found the gear and we lurched forward. Our aim was to encounter the wildness of East Africa, God-willing, in a bloodless way.

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What we Learned from Kilimanjaro's Shrinking Ice Cap

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What we Learned from Kilimanjaro's Shrinking Ice Cap

Explore three takeaways about the arrival and disappearance of Kilimanjaro's icy cap.

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Then I Let Myself Believe It: The Push to Kili's Rim

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Then I Let Myself Believe It: The Push to Kili's Rim

I caught her in my headlamp. She might have pretty in another place but she was beyond defeat here, maybe even beyond consciousness. She was draped between the wings of two laboring guides. Her head was lolling. Her toes were dragging. That little Piper had stalled.

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The most interesting man in the world

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The most interesting man in the world

Ernest Hemingway dangled a riddle of death at the front end of his short story, "The Snows of Kilimanjaro." But what kind of epigraph is this? A freeze-dried window decoration? A chewy historical tidbit? The most interesting man in the world may have solved the riddle.