Karibu Rafiki

At the front gate of the African Village, there was a wooden board hanging on the fence.

On the board were written:

“African Savanna
Karibu Rafiki (Welcome Friend)
Trail length: 0.35 miles (0.56 km)
Zebras, Hippos, Giraffe, Lions, Weavers and other animals”

The African Village Project was made possible through a generous gift from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation"

Savanna is the natural vegetation in Africa. I learned it from Geography books in my secondary school. At that time, very few photos showing what a savanna looks like can be seen in books. No educational films were shown to the students at that time. “Savanna” is merely a name of “grassland” to me, but nothing else. Nowadays students can learn much about it from documentary films produced by BBC and National Geographic. Thanks to these precious films that can widen the scope of the learning of youngsters worldwide.

Here at Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, I was happy to learn how Africans speak when they welcome their friends. At that time looking at the welcoming board, the names of Zulus, the Congo Basin, the Ivory Coast, the Sahara Desert, River Nile, Lake Victoria, Victoria Falls and the Cape of Good Hope oozed out of my mind. It seemed that my soul had already flown to Africa.

The trail to see zebras, hippos, giraffes and lions, as mentioned on the board, was not long (just half a km) when compared with the Marathon Race distance of 42.195 km.