Kenneth is an incredible tracker with an easygoing, personable style that made for a full day of fun. For example, he had received a call from a “colleague” one morning at 7am letting him know that he had spotted a lion on the ridge of ‘such and such’ ( all the guides have names for areas in the reserve so they can easily refer locations to each other ) so when Kenneth greeted me that morning, we headed to a bush area directly below the ridge. Now imagine the voice and accent of Meryl Streep’s manservant in Out of Africa when he tells her “This chief…he say children can go to school when they are this tall”. Kenneth tells me “This lion…I think he come down from ridge to lie in shade of this bush.” Sure enough – about 20 minutes later he found the king of the jungle. Kenneth radioed other colleagues of his find so they could bring their clients to the vicinity but until they arrived we had the beast all to ourselves. That’s an impressive thing about these guides – there’s absolutely no competition for being the “best” – rather, they are in regular communication helping each other provide the best experience for us visitors. But perhaps most impressive was Kenneth’s baritone when after spotting the animal and watching it for awhile, he’d sing out “On to the next adventure!” And off we’d go….
