“Life is not like water. Things in life don’t necessarily flow over the shortest possible route.” ― Haruki Murakami, 1Q84 Africa introduced itself to me through a book written by an Englishman who had traveled by train across the middle of Africa from the west coast to the east coast, and thence by boat to […]

“Laughter is the best medicine for sure” Uncle Jim/Reader’s Digest I’m giving away the punch line of my Africa trip, but what the heck. Here’s what I went to harvest, but I didn’t. My friend Chen Wei was really unhappy and apologetic, and on the ride back to Harare from Hwange we talked about my […]

“It’s like algebra, that’s all. I just have to figure it out, step by step.” ― Hollis Seamon, That BB gun was a challenge to begin with. I had to start closer up and slowly work my way back to 15 yards. Then I had laser eye surgery and all of a sudden I had […]

“The older I get the surer I am that I am not running the show.” — Leonard Cohen The sound of running water in the toilet tank woke me up and told me it was 5:30 a.m. That was when the camp caretaker started the generator that powered the water pump that was providing the […]

“Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right — here I am stuck in the middle. . . “ – Gerald Rafferty/Joe Egan Written on the fly; home in two weeks or so. We are out of Africa on our way to mainland China. We are in Hong Kong and — frankly speaking […]

“. . . reminds me of my safari in Africa. Somebody forgot the corkscrew and for several days we had to live on nothing but food and water.” – W.C. Fields Let me get some housekeeping out of the way. Everyone seems to be adding disclaimers to their videos and comments, and so shall I. […]

“And it’s a hard, it’s a hard, and it’s a hard,. . . it’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall” — Bob Dylan Before we leave camp on the afternoon of our first day, let me tell you about our team. You already know something about Chen Wei. Becker is a family man in his mid-50s […]

“There’s Just No Sport in it” — Uncle Jim THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH RELOADING. IF IT BORES YOU, STOP READING. All I’ve talked about up to now is elephant, because that is what we were hunting. That’s what I wanted. Of course, after that first day and getting Becker’s confirmation that I could […]

(Note: This post contains language that some may find offensive.)   “In life you’ll face difficulties that postpone some of your dreams. Regardless, life goes fast by reminding us youth is finite and old age is stable. So you mustn’t stop dreaming and running while your strength is yet tough.” ― Darmie O-Lujon By 2013 […]