The images are still vivid. I can still see a giraffe's tongue delicately plucking leaves from the thorny branch. I still taste the dust from the African "roads." I still smell the freshness of the pre-dawn air as we lift off on our balloon safari. I still feel my heart pound as I watch the leopard stalk a gazelle. I still hear the lions lapping water at the stream. My month long safari with my mother in Kenya and Tanzania is still fresh in my mind's eye (ear, mouth...).

I keep searching for adjectives to describe our trip, but amazing, astounding, incredible or any other superlative seems to come up short. All the sights, sounds and experiences of Africa stagger my mind.

The next thing to impress me was how close the animals were to us. People in safari vans are not a threat to these animals; they're used to that. Don't get out of the vehicle though, then you're either predator or prey. The gazelles, zebra and wildebeest grazed within a few feet. Babies nursed. A cheetah found afternoon shade in the shadow of a van. The lions drank. We were so close we could hear them drink.

The diversity of the animals was also incredible. I never knew this many species existed, much less that many in such a small area.

Animal identification becomes a big challenge when you encounter such diversity. Our guide and driver were indispensable. From the first day we were all pretty good at identifying zebra, giraffe and elephant, but you wouldn't believe how many brown animals there are: Thompson's and Grant's gazelle, Coke's and Jackson's hartebeest, topi, gerenuk, wildebeest, cape buffalo, dik dik and impala to name only a few. Each park we visited and each game drive we went on introduced us to at least two new animals, even after three weeks.

It's not just the mammals either. I discovered that Africa's birdlife is just as exciting, and I don't really even like birdwatching. The Superb Glossy Starling doesn't need anymore description. Even their starlings are gorgeous.

But then again we turn to our driver for identification: yellow-necked spur fowl, lilac breasted roller, helmeted guinea fowl, secretary bird, nubian vulture, red and yellow barbet, etc. I don't know how they learn it all. We were sure the next one would stump him, but it didn't.

We arrived at the Masai Mara in Kenya just as the calendar reached October. That is significant because sometime in October the wildebeest - about 1.5 MILLION of them - begin their annual migration back to Tanzania. We were too early to witness the migration, but we were there to see them gathering into one big herd/sea of wildebeest. Tens (hundreds?) of thousands as far as the eye could see.

All through Africa as you see the animals, sometimes you want to get a little bit better view, but you don't. Sometimes you're close enough to touch, but you don't. This is my entertainment, but this is their life. Sometimes it feels like a zoo just because you can't believe it's real - but it is real. There's nothing more real than this. Sleeping, drinking, killing, eating, mating, etc. We've seen their life.

Africa's not really something that be described in words (although I've tried). It can't even be accurately depicted in photographs (although I'll gladly show you my album if you ask). It can only be experienced. And after that it only exists in the mind's eye (ear, mouth...). And I can still hear the lions drink.