The Rains Have Come!

There is something strange about taking final exams under a thatched roof gazebo – in a fence – in the middle of Africa. I spend the entire past week studying under a yellow acacia tree with my laptop as baboons walked by and horn bills perched on the branches next to me. Occasionally a giant spider or millipede would crawl on me and make me jump about a foot in the air. Also, I am now an expert at screwing ticks out of my skin. My favorite place to sit is next to the spring where I can watch Maasai mamas fill up their giant water jugs and gently balance them on their heads as they walk back into the dusty savannah. People walk for miles and miles to get water from this spring. “Water” I continually write in my essays and proposals, “how do you get water to people in this desiccated land while educating them about how to conserve it?” The streams are drying up, the dry season is too long, and the water is getting increasingly polluted. The best part about taking long tedious tests in Africa is being able to look up to Mt. Kilimanjaro for advice.
One day I was reading an article about building a highway across the Serengeti when I felt a drop of liquid on my head. My first thought was that a bird pooped on me again, but after another couple seconds I felt another and another. We all slowly looked up at each other, and then lifted our heads toward the sky. Dark clouds!! Rain!! The rains had come!! I could hear the soft sound of rain in the distance and within a few minutes a sheet of water came sweeping across the savannah, soaking everything. I have never been so emotional about seeing rain before and all of us immediately started laughing and running around in circles with our mouths wide open and our arms in the air. After a few more minutes thunder started echoing across the sky. I felt like Simba had just returned to pride rock in The Lion King. The rain pulled the dust out of the air and made everything smell so fresh. As I soaked myself in the rain every part of me could feel all the life that the water was bringing and it rejuvenated me in an extraordinary way.
As the rains came, so did the animals. Elephants have been breaking into our camp every night and the snakes are emerging from the dry grasses. A black mamba was killed several nights ago on my trail to the bathroom. Cobras and pythons have also been found in various places!
I’m glad I got to experience part of the rainy season before I moved to Tanzania. I can see why people base their lives off the rains and talk about it constantly. At the end of the week I got through exams (with the help of Mt. Kilimanjaro) and prepared to make the 10-hour drive across the border to my new home in Tanzania.