There was an excellent article in the Telegraph on the 3rd of November entitled:
“Kenya Safari - So Much Better Than Disney” which essentially suggested that children would benefit from actually being able to actually see the animals in real life that they may only have ever have seen on the Disney or the Discovery Channel.
It was an excellent article and here’s a part of it (with credit to the Telegraph), that will go you a feel for what they were trying to suggest:
“Like many urban children, ours tend towards an unrealistic view of animals. They know lions have big teeth and elephants’ dung is smelly, but if most of your experience is confined to Walt Disney and the Discovery Channel, you are bound to think all God’s creatures are essentially charming and lovable. Clearly a more balanced view would be a good thing – one reason we decided to take our teenager and two nine-year-olds to Kenya.
At first, standing on top of a Land Rover in the middle of the bush waiting for something to happen may have seemed less attractive than lying in front of the telly with a packet of Pringles. But SpongeBob SquarePants is nothing compared to what lay across the fast-flowing waters of the Mara river.
Countless wildebeest stood lowing and nudging each other on the far bank (”No, no, after you”). After hesitating long enough to test the patience of an adult, let alone a nine-year-old, one bold beast leapt in and the rest followed, plunging wild-eyed across the muddy waters with epic, pointless courage while crocodiles sunk the slow and the young like torpedoes with teeth.
We had expected the kids to be bored and maybe a bit weepy; but instead we had an earnest argument about saving an orphaned wildebeest and taking it home to Wandsworth Common.
It looked as if Kenya was weaving the same spell on our children as it had on ourselves many years ago. We used to have family there, and have fond memories of the country during our child-free days. But rather than the ramshackle, DIY safaris we put together back then, we looked at how we might make things easier and safer. If you are sensible, you can’t avoid vaccinations, for example, and the civilised Intrepids tented camps and Safari Link air service made visiting different areas in Kenya manageable, even in a week. A whole week in one camp may be too much for children – they do develop safari fatigue and lose interest after a few days of waking up before dawn”.
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