A memorial service, organized by Three Parks Independent Democrats, will take place on Sun., Oct. 1, at 4:00 p.m., at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church; the entrance is on Amsterdam Ave. near the corner of W. 100th St.

In addition, a local poetry group, the Thursday Morning Poets, plans a tribute to Cynthia on Sat., Sept. 30, 1 p.m., at the community flower garden adjacent to Hippo Park, inside Riverside Park at W. 91st St. For more information, contact isabooklady@aol.com.

May her memory be for a blessing. 

Be safe, and keep in touch with us.

Thanks!

Steven Zirinsky

Block Association Dues

Haven’t paid your dues? Why Not? It is easy! 
Pay or renew online. Boom. Done.

Contact Steven Zirinsky with questions.

By Joyce Mann

In the 1970s, Mark Smith moved to New York from North Carolina to pursue an acting career. In those days, urban living had a gritty edge. The years went by, Smith met his wife Miriam Cukier, and in 1994, they moved to what he describes as “the paradise of 315 Riverside Drive.” Today Smith is an agent representing and managing performing artists, and Cukier, retired from the Metropolitan Transit Authority, is co- editor of Bloomingdale Aging in Place’s popular Buzz Newsletter.

Some months ago, as the pandemic crimped neighborhood services like trash removal, Smith wanted to find a way to help. Through a new organization, One Block UWS, Smith adopted West 104th Street as his special charge, setting out several days a week to pick up stray trash and keep the block tidy. He spoke with Block Association Board Member Joyce Mann about what got him started and how One Block works.

What made you get involved in OneBlock?

I got tired of railing about the garbage in the streets like Jack Lemmon in Prisoner of Second Avenue. I saw an article about the group in the West Side Rag and I thought it was a great idea, so I contacted them. They have both Facebook and Instagram pages and now a website, www.oneblockuws.org, and a gmail account, oneblockuws@gmail.com

The organization was started only a few months ago by Jake Russell, a Texas native involved here in real estate. I was invited to join a group cleanup of Broadway between 96th Street and 106th Street, avenues usually being dirtier than sidestreets, to learn the ropes. I was given the organization’s tee shirt to identify myself, special gloves with rubber tips and a few bags with their logo on it. I ended up buying my own “grabber” for $25 at World Hardware on 99th St.(great guys!).

How often do you clean up and how long does it take?

I go out once or twice a week, weather depending, and it takes between 45 minutes and an hour. I usually fill up two “Duane Reade-size plastic bags. My adopted area is the two blocks on 104th Street from Riverside Drive to the west side of Broadway. I clean garbage left on the side- walk, out of the flower beds and also around the parked cars. You can get pretty fanatical about it after a while!

What is the most common trash you find?

Fortunately, we live on a very clean block. I find a lot of cigarette packs/butts, but the closer you get to Broadway, the more fast food garbage you find, especially plastic knives and forks, coffee cups, bottles and fast food containers. If owners leave dog poop in the bags, I pick that up, too.

Do you need to recycle what you find?

No. The most frustrating part of the job is finding the garbage cans to put the trash in. There is only the one can on the corner of WEA and 104th, near the mail box, for the whole block, and it is usually over- flowing. I often end up just taking everything back home with me.

Any thoughts for folks interested in volunteering?

It feels good to do this. I feel effective and you can see immediate results. The organization started with 70 volunteers in August and now has 1600 volunteers as of October 24th. And they hired three men from a local shelter to help out. They earn a salary and health benefits, so it’s a win-win for everyone.

One Block is always looking for more volunteers, as well as donors. Just don’t sign up to adopt West 104th Street—it’s mine

Growing up in Portland, Oregon, Shailah Edmonds dreamed of a fashion career. Coming to New York as a young woman in the 1970s, she found few opportunities for women of color. A photographer advised her to try Paris, where Black models were in increasing demand. She moved there, and became a runway model for some of fashion’s biggest names, including Valentino and Versace. Eventually, she became a fitting model for Yves St. Laurent. Her memoir, Wild Child to Couture Style, has recently been published by Lyons Books (see www.shailahedmonds.com to order a copy). Shailah, who has gather crowds at the West 104th Street Yard Sale with her covers of Motown classics, shared a few thoughts with the newsletter on her Paris experiences.

What were the most rewarding aspects about modeling in Paris?

The ability to work one-on-one with top designers. And to experience the time and care that went into creating a garment, especially couture, when everything was made by hand. I learned so much about types of fabric, how to conduct myself in a sophisticated manner (after being somewhat inde- pendently wild), and was so grateful to be respected and appreciated as a professional.

Comparing Paris to New York, what were things you liked about living there?

What I loved most about living in Paris was the fact that I was treated so well. I never felt one bit of discrimination, and was always referred to as the American, instead of by the color of my skin.

I also liked the overall courtesy in Paris. When you enter any establishment there is always a greeting—“Bon Jour”—as well as when you leave, “Au revoir” or “Bonne Journée”. In New York that is very rare. When dining in Paris, it is a relaxed, enjoyable occasion. You can sit after eating and the waiter is slow to take your plate, especially while your companion is still eating. In New York, they sometimes take your empty dish as soon as you’ve finished your meal.

What advice would you give a young woman of color today seeing out on a fashion career?

To have patience, perseverance and to be resilient. It’s really a tough, competitive business. Whenever the fashion business returns, I think (and hope) there will be more diversity, due to the current climate of world events, however, you must be prepared. Study and practice your craft, make sure you fit the requirements before wasting your time, and be prepared to work hard.

Order Wild Child to Couture Style at www.shailaedmonds.com

Wake:
Tuesday, February 18, 2020
From 4:30 PM to 9:00 PM
4425 Broadway, New York, NY 10040
Phone: 212- 942-3700

Funeral Mass:
ST. ELIZABETH CHURCH
Wednesday, February 19, 2020
10:00 AM
268 Wadsworth Ave. New York, NY 10033
Phone: 212-568-8803

Burial to follow Funeral Mass:
ST. RAYMONDS CEMETERY
2600 Lafayette Ave.Bronx, NY 10465
Phone: 718-792-1133

The Block Association’s new president, Steve Zirinsky, is not a block newcomer. He and his wife Paula moved here in 2002 and he has been involved with and committed to our block community ever since. We can thank him for organizing the installation of our elegant streetlights, which he shepherded through city bureaucracy. He spearheaded the expansion of the tree gardens and continues to provide creative ideas and leadership to the board and residents.

Steve grew up in Great Neck, Long Island. Even in elementary school he was curious, and liked to arrange things, and figure out how they were put together. His interests sparked the high school vice principal to administer a special test, which helped him be admitted to Carnegie- Mellon University, where he earned a degree in architecture. He worked briefly in New Haven, but then came to New York. After a short stint on the East Side, he moved to the West Side, where he has been at home ever since. He was responsible for a new streetlight on Riverside and 94th St. when he was president of a co-op there. When he and his wife moved to our block, he got busy working on West 104th Street’s lights. Soon the family expanded with the addition of Ethan, now 14.

Steve’s architecture firm is in Long Island City, so he has a reverse commute. His very first commission was a new warehouse in Brooklyn. He has worked on interesting projects—such as renovating the New York Road Runners Club—as well as what he dubs the “usual” mix of residential and commercial work. His interest in the streetscape stems from his notion that architecture doesn’t stop at the building line…but is experienced everywhere.

His avocation is postage stamps, and his collection is vast. He specializes in canceled envelopes and island countries of the Caribbean and the Pacific Ocean. He will travel internationally to further this passion. He still finds time for weekend runs, and has completed enough marathons (it is not his favorite distance). Steve is a member of many associations involving architects, city regulations, and postage stamps. He has served on several mayoral committees organized through the Dept. of Buildings, and now sits on one that is developing the 2019 New York City Building Code.

He is passionate about our block and encourages every resident to become involved in some way to improve the sense of community that makes our block special. Feel free to contact him with your suggestions at Steve@zirinskyarch.com. And please read your newsletters and emails for more ideas from Steve.

At the foot of the block beside the Number 5 bus stop is a beautiful garden. If you crossed to Riverside Park on the uptown side of the street, you saw another on the island that divides Riverside Drive from the service road. Have you wondered who created them and cares for them? It’s your dedicated green thumb neighbors Ira and Karen Gershenhorn and Dru Heidle, all residents of 320 Riverside Drive.

In 1989, Karen and her husband Ira became Park Tenders, the title that the Riverside Park Conservatory gives to those volunteers who care for specific areas. “Being invited to work in the bus stop garden was our welcome to the neighborhood,” says Karen. Dru remembers looking down from her window at the gardens before she began lending a hand. “I started planting in the large cement planters in front of 320, then met Ira and Karen and began helping. It was pretty rough looking then—nothing like it looks now.”

Using Olmstead’s Principles

The Riverside Park Conservancy has strict rules about what what can be planted in the park’s gardens. These rules follow “Olmsteadian” principles, which discourage suburban garden flora like colorful annuals, invasive grasses or anything edible. Sight lines into the park must be maintained. Nearly all the plantings are perennial, although annuals that re-seed themselves are allowed. The Conservancy provides plants, compost, mulch, large bags for cleaning up leaves and dead plants, and some tools, which are stored in the park’s Volunteer House at 107th St. Water and storage for the island garden is provided by 320 Riverside. The bus stop garden gets water from the Tot Lot water connection; Dru uses a hose on a watering cart donated by the Block Association.

Island in the Shade

A decade ago, Karen decided to reclaim the island in front of 320 RSD and received permission from the Conservancy to adopt the area. “There were some plantings near the fence,” she recalls, “but those had been neglected and a patchy, muddy area had literally gone to the dogs—and rats. I ripped out all the English ivy and poison ivy, getting a bad case myself, and started planting. I am currently in the process of putting in vinca. Other plants in the area include ferns, Solomon’s Seal (the tall, variegated-leafed plants) hellebores and hostas.”

The Bus Stops Here

Dru is the main gardener now at the bus stop garden, with much appreciated assistance from Karen. The garden’s plantings have evolved over time. Some years ago it had rose bushes, a few hostas, and lots of grass, day lilies and violets. Two flowering pear trees and a cherry tree, now gone, were planted in memory of loved ones by block residents. This tradition has been continued in the form of the lilac bushes and a rose bush now growing in the plot.

Over time, Dru has concentrated on adding flowers and plants that attract bees and butterflies. Fifteen years ago, when she began working on the garden, it did not get much sun. Full sun plants, which tend to be more colorful, were confined to the southeast corner, where phlox and Echinacea bloomed. Then six years ago, a major storm brought down three large trees that had shaded the garden. With them gone, says Dru, “We now had a primarily sunny garden, which resulted in more opportu- nity for color and interest.”

Extreme Gardening

Ira, affectionately dubbed “ the rat man” by Karen and Dru for his indefatigable help ridding both gardens of rats over the years, stopped gardening locally a few years ago in favor of more neglected spots, though he will still pitch in from time to time. He works primarily at Hudson Beach, Fort Washington Park, and at various spots along the Hudson River. These areas are neglected he feels, because they are in neighborhoods that are not pricey.

In the summer the three volunteers spend at least 10 hours a week doing what they all call “extreme gardening”—more if there’s a drought that requires heavy watering. Upkeep includes planting, weeding, pruning, removing garbage and dog waste, dividing plants, watching for pest infestations and diseased plants, mulching, raking leaves in the fall and spring, cleaning debris out of the storm drains, etc. They welcome contributions of tools and other garden gear, since they pay for those themselves and they often wear out.

As official ParkTenders, they also keep an eye out for fallen branches, give directions and answer people’s questions about the park and its flora. They continue to have to educate people not to throw garbage into the gardens. That can be the least of their worries. “People will steal plants, and even re-sell them,” says Dru. On the positive side, both Karen and Dru are grateful for the thanks of passersby who comment how much they appreciate their hard work in making the neighborhood more beau- tiful, or the eager questions of children.

In the end, the gardens give each something that they value. “I like to see stuff grow,” says Ira. “I love when an area fills in and to see the interplay of flowers and leaves.” Dru agrees: “It’s very rewarding to see the progress you’ve made.” And Karen sees both personal and communal benefits. “It’s meditative, and cheap therapy,” she says. “And the birds and the bees help, too. I enjoy making our neighborhood more beautiful for everyone to enjoy.”

To learn more about being a Park Tender,
go to www.riversidepark conservancy.org/Volunteer.html.

Daniel Jenkns, a 23-year resident of 309 West 104th Street is currently featured in the ensemble of Oslo, the critically acclaimed, TONY nominated play by J.T. Rogers about the 1993 Israeli-Palestinian peace accords. The play goes behind the scenes to explore the roles that Terje Rod Larsen, a social scientist, and his wife Mona Juul, a career diplomat, played in unofficially bringing the negotiations about. The play recently transferred to Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theater from Mitzi E. Newhouse, officially moving to Broadway in the process. The production is currently scheduled to run through June 18. Joyce Mann interviewed Jenkins, who has been nominated for Tony and drama Desk awards for his performance in Big River, about the challenges in restating the play.

Photos courtesy T. Charles Erickson, courtesy ICT

Did you know much about the Oslo accords before being cast in the play? Did you do any research?

I knew almost nothing. We did a lot of research as a company—a lot of time around the table digging into the history. Terje Rod Larson was around, too, and came to talk to us, as did another character’s real counterpart, Joel Singer.

You play two roles—a Swedish diplomat and an Israeli professor. When preparing to play a real person, does your methodology as an  actor change? Did anyone in the cast make contact with their counterparts?

I don’t think my methodology changes. I am just a bit more sensitive to what is respectful. There were a couple of people who reached out to their real counterparts. I mentioned that Terje was around, but his wife, Mona, was not and is actually quite shy about all of this. I have one character who has passed away and one who’s alive, but is very busy with international affairs, and I decided not to reach out to him. Also, While I find that research is good to do, circumstances within the play are more useful to me as a performer than trying to re-create someone’s persona.

How did you and other cast members master the varios accents required?

We are very fortunate to have the remarkable voice teacher Liz Smith as our leader in all things accent. There’s also a cast member who happens to be Norwegian. So that’s pretty fortunate, too!

Many of the actors sit off-stage, but in full view of the audience, during much of the play. Was that the playwright’s choice or the director’s?

The director chose that approach. It gives a sense of watching or being watched throughout. I think different audiences take different ideas about that with them, which is just fine!

What is the difference between playing on a thrust stage like the Beaumont vs. a traditional Broadway proscenium arch space? Would Oslo have changed much had it been done on a traditional stage, do you think?

The Beaumont feels like the perfect space for this play. The sense of sharing and being watched by a community really adds to the public/private conversation that was being had about the issues. Many people in the audience feel strongly about the people and issues raised, and they are included in this space in a way that they couldn’t be in a proscenium.

As an actor, what do you do internally during that time of sitting and watching?

I think my favorite thing to do on stage is to listen. How that is done is different for every actor. For me, it is a challenge that I truly enjoy. The character’s internal life is simply there, and my job is just to listen.

One of your roles requires a wig and there is at least one very quick costume change. Do you have dressers to help you backstage?

At one point I have three different persons with me to do a complete costume in about eight seconds! It’s  one of my favorite parts of the show!

As an actor, what adjustments did you need to make in playing on a much larger stage and bigger auditorium?

It’s a glorious space! It really feels much more “Greek”. And the ideas and stakes of the play allow for that adjustment. Space likes passionate expression, and as an actor it is an adjustment, but a joyous one, to fill that space with that passion.

What are the hardest scenes to perform in the play, in your opinion?

They all have their challenges, but I don’t think there is a particular scene that is “hard”. I think the calibration of scene-to-scene temperature is the challenging part of the piece — how to keep the audience engaged, but not fatigued, by the crazy twists and turns in the story.

What do you hope people take away from the play?

I hope they enjoy their time there. (The play’s very funny, I think). And then ponder how people on diametrically opposed sides of an issue (sound familiar?) might find a way that come together and share a dialog.

Since 2006, block resident Ana Luiza Oliveira has run the New York Women’s Foundation, which is dedicated to helping women who are struggling improve their skills and gain control of their lives. Oliveira, who has
a long career in non-profit work, has followed her path on the Upper West Side since 1981, when she came to the U.S. from Sao Paulo, Brazil, to pursue her MA degree in Medical Anthropology at the New School.

It was one of the very few institutions that offered exactly the training she needed. That pursuit required a year of internship in a related field. She found her spot at the Lincoln Hospital Detox Clinic in the South Bronx. This served mainly Latino and Puerto Rican patients, many of whom were suffering from what was soon called AIDS. Oliveira was devoted to causes that helped women and volunteered to help both women and caregivers and was soon offered a position at the hospital.

In 1990 she went to work with the Osborne Association, where she helped to treat drug users who had been arrested but were steered into treatment rather than incarcerated. Oliveira headed a day treatment pilot program that addressed the whole person physically, spiritually and mentally. She worked with the association for 6 years, always with a special focus on women and teens who needed help. In 1996 she moved over to the Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC). She helped women coping with the impact of AIDS in their families who needed child care, lunch programs, legal services, to build parenting skills, and support.

In 1998 she was named Executive Director and oversaw a reorganization and rebuilding of the organization, as the epidemic evolved with the advent of effective medications and treatments.

Then in 2006 she was tapped by the New York Women’s Foundation, which will turn 30 this year. She oversees a staff of 27, and an annual budget that has grown to $12 million. The foundation funds 90 small organizations, often community-based, for up to 6 years. Two examples of their success:

• Perscholas in the South Bronx teaches computer skills. The ratio was 80% men, 20% women. Trough the support of the Women’s Foundation, the ratio has increased to 50% men and 50% women.
• In Brooklyn, a small group of immigrant women were baking bread from their homelands and wanted to expand. The Women’s Foundation helped, and they are now the Hot Bread Kitchen, based at 115th St. and Park Ave. They distribute their bread at Citerella, Whole Foods, and outdoor food markets, as well as promoting and encouraging a cooperative of food entrepreneurs to market as a group.

The NY Women’s Foundation also supports social services helping those involved in aiding victims of domestic violence, educational training for new jobs, and health and safety issues. Oliveira has spent her life supporting women and young adults to find ways to succeed. Her goal has always been to provide a pipeline to success and she has accomplished that goal many times.

Oliveira moved to 320 Riverside in 2003 and has enjoyed the building, the strong sense of community generated by the block association and newsletter, residents’ involvement in the annual Yard Sale and the flowers in our tree beds. She appreciates the existence of Bloomingdale Aging in Place, which enhances the quality of life in this area.

Lee has never played baseball on any team; however, he developed a strong interest in the game as a boy while being raised in a densely populated but almost childless neighborhood of Manhattan, the West 50s near Carnegie Hall. His family’s apartment was at 200 West 58th Street, at the southwest corner of Seventh Avenue. His grade school, P.S. 69 (later the site of the Ziegfeld Theater on West 54th Street), was so small that classes were doubled up. Lee avidly listened to baseball on the radio and then also watched games on television, first through the window of P.J. Carney’s, a pub still on Seventh Avenue between 57th and 58th streets, and at home by 1953. Lee’s father, a dermatologist, good athlete, and devoted NY Giants fan, took Lee to Central Park’s Sheep Meadow, when it was still a widely open area, to play catch and practice batting. He also took Lee, and sometimes Lee’s sister, to professional games, as their mother, a retired singer, occasionally did as well, albeit, while bringing along her crossword puzzles. Some patients of Lee’s father were National League umpires, among them, Bill Stewart and Babe Pinelli, the latter of whom was invited to dinner on more than a few occasions. It was exciting for Lee to be in his presence, but he was told not to ask questions about baseball.

The close proximity of the family’s apartment to three major subways greatly facilitated going to the stadiums of three major league teams, the Giants, Yankees, and Dodgers, at respectively the Polo Grounds in Upper Manhattan, Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, and Ebbets Field in Brooklyn. Except for 1948, from 1947 to 1958, at least one New York team was in the Worlds Series.

Lee graduated from high school at Bronx Science and received a B.A., with concentrations in American History and Government, in 1963 from Columbia University, where he was the equipment manager for the men’s basketball team for three years. He began graduate work in 1963 at the University of Wisconsin in Madison and earned a master’s degree and then a Ph.D. in America History by 1968. His dissertation title was “American Radicals and Their Views of Soviet Russia, 1917–1940.”

Lee has taught for varying periods at over ten different schools while specializing in American studies or baseball history. While at Goucher College in Towson, Maryland, in 1968 and 1969, he gave a course on communism and the Cold War. From 1973 to 1975, he taught American Studies at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. For various reasons, he returned to New York in 1976. By 1978, he was writing his first book. In 2004 at Yale University, he led a seminar called “Jazz, Baseball, and Race Relations.” From 2007 to 2012, Lee lectured on the history of American sports in Columbia University’s graduate program in Sports Management. He has periodically taught sport history classes at Long Island University–Brooklyn and Montclair State University of New Jersey. And, indicative of his eclectic interests, from 1988 to 2003, he taught jazz appreciation at the 92nd Street Y.

Lee started out as a Giants fan, switched to the Mets after the Giants went to San Francisco in 1958, and became an Orioles fan in 1970 when teaching in Maryland. He continues to favor the Orioles and especially appreciates, in his words, “ how well the team members work together and how the team has a tradition of playing meaningful games in September and knowing how to win without bragging about it.” Lee’s favorite player is Brooks Robinson, who played with the Orioles for his entire twenty-three year career.

Lee enthusiastically continues to follow and attend games, including home games of the Mets and Yankees, and home and away games of the Orioles. He also follows baseball on the Major League Baseball television network. It seems as though Lee can give an informed answer to almost any question about baseball. When asked for this article about changes he has seen in baseball, he said that “pitchers are not expected to complete games and that their injuries are almost epidemic because they throw too hard and specialize too early in life.” He also pointed out that catchers frequently become managers because they are the only players who look at the field and noted that baseball is the only sport where the defense has the ball.

For his Branch Rickey book [683 pages], Lee received the coveted Seymour medal from the Society for American Baseball Research and won a Choice award from the American Library Association. He was interviewed about Branch Rickey for the highly praised film by Ken Burns on Jackie Robinson’s career that aired on public television in April 2006. Interviews and conversations with Lee are available on his website http://www.leelowenfsh.com, from which his blog can also be accessed.

On his way to teach in August at upstate Chautauqua, the adult education mecca, Lee stopped to tape an interview with Gregory Peterson, a co-founder and board member of the Robert A. Jackson Center in Jamestown, New York. It was on baseball and American culture and Lee’s interests in both.

By the way, Lee sees the league championships as more wide open than ever this year, with every team having a weakness. He is hoping, though, that the Orioles will play the Giants.

–By Trudie Grace

Preparing for the trip was no simple matter. In addition to learning about the culture, animals, and conservation of the areas we would be visiting, we needed to get a prescription for malaria pills from an infectious disease doctor, get inoculated against yellow fever, and purchase enough photographic equipment, several lenses, and memory cards to last the entire trip. We were also told to buy fragrance free products.

Our accommodations were deluxe tented camps or a lodge. Tents are canvas with a thatched roof, double sinks, a bathroom, and a shower. Electricity was shut o aer midnight, but we were provided with ash lights. Although my pre-trip fears included getting bitten by mosquitoes or having a snake crawl into my tent, I did not see a single mosquito or snake the entire trip! We did, however, have to deal with the omnipresent monkeys, who love to get into the tents. We had to close the double zippers and put a table against it to keep them out. One time, my friend saw a monkey peering down at her from the top of the tent. They are as curious about us as we are about them. Sometimes while we were eating, we would dine with the monkeys. And we dined on very tasty and wonderfully prepared food with all kinds of fruits and vegetables washed with sterile water.

Within Kenya, our group traveled in a caravan of five land rovers. Each vehicle had three people and a driver. Usually each vehicle holds up to nine observers; but, because we were photographers, we needed access to both sides of the vehicle. We le our camp or lodge before sunrise because that is when the animals are more active, and because the light is spectacular for photographing. The staff brought hot tea or coffee to our tent before we le, and a boxed breakfast was brought along, which we ate around 10:00 a.m. We returned to camp around 12:30 for lunch, and rest time, although I usually downloaded images from our morning shoot. We left again late in the afternoon for our second tour of the day because at sunset the animals are more visible. They sleep or rest during the heat of the day.

Safaris are not strenuous because you’re in a vehicle most of the day, but the roads are not paved, and there are a lot of bumps, potholes, dirt mounds, underbrush, and hippo pools to get through. ere is a lot of dust, and the vehicles are open, so I used some medication that someone else in the group brought along to settle my stomach.

It is amazing to see all the species share their space in harmony in their natural environment without bars or glass or small enclosures. Of course harmony ends when an animal hunts or is being hunted. I knew I did not want to look at one animal killing another, nor take pictures of this, yet found myself being able to tolerate the stalking. I surprised myself by being able to watch the animal eat its prey and to be able to photograph this.

Our group visited three very different game reserves. Samburu is considered the most picturesque and lush. While there, we saw Grevy’s zebras, ostriches, gerunuks, olive baboons, dik-diks, and reticulated giraffes, among other creatures. We also visited the Samburu tribesmen, who are related to the Maasai. The men are famous for their high jumping dances. We were told that those who jump the highest are considered the healthiest and therefore the most desirable. e women wear layers of beads in choker fashion around their necks. It is a polygamous society.

The next reserve was Lake Nakuru National Park, oen called the greatest ornithological spectacle in the world and known for its millions of pink flamingos and white pelicans. Unfortunately, most of the flamingos had gone elsewhere because decreased water levels have reduced algae, which is the main food for flamingos. So, we only saw a few hundred. But we saw endangered black and white rhinos, the Rothschild giraffe, gazelles, impalas, common zebras, African buffalo, Eland waterbuck, and leopards.

The last game reserve was Maasai Mara. It is home to what is known as “e Big 5,” meaning lions, elephants, leopards, buffalos, and rhinos. We also saw cheetahs and spotted hyenas and were fortunate enough to witness the famous migration across the Mara River, which I termed “the river of danger.” The animals eat all the vegetation on one side of the river and must cross in order to and food elsewhere. Different species cross at the same time. We saw wildebeests, zebras, and topis. They sense the potential danger facing them, so they take hours or days or weeks to jump in and swim across, hoping to avoid the crocodiles waiting underwater. It was a very emotional experience for me to witness this. 

The Masaai people herd cattle, sheep, goats, and donkeys. They have a mystical attitude towards their cattle, which are used as payment, the establishment of marriage bonds, and for sacrifices for important ceremonial occasions. Women milk them, and the men protect them from danger. They are rarely eaten for their meat and slaughtered only if there is a food shortage.

Unfortunately, Kenya has suffered from a drop in tourism in recent years because of security concerns, so I was pleased to see very tight security in all the places we stayed. ere were many armed guards when entering any reserve or lodge, and on the highway there were also many checkpoints. e local Kenyan people we encountered were warm and welcomed conversation. Especially memorable was the time I got out of our vehicle to stretch my legs (at a gas station) and didn’t realize my expensive prescription sunglasses had fallen o where I had placed them to take photographs. I got back into the vehicle when suddenly there was a tap on the window and a man on a motorcycle was holding up my sunglasses. How lovely of this stranger to go out of his way to return them. is is one of the reasons I decided to write and speak about my trip. I promised the Kenyan people I met that I would encourage people to visit this amazing part of Africa. If this short article entices you to think about traveling there, and you want further information, I’d be happy to discuss it: marlenesch7@gmail.com.

— By Marlene Schonbrun