Masai Mara

Indeed terror is in all cases whatsoever, either more openly or latently, the ruling principle of the sublime. -Edmund Burke

Okay, so I'm not a huge fan of Burke, but his essay on the sublime made a lot of sense after my trip to Masai Mara, the vast game park in western Kenya. His main point is pretty basic: things that scare us also have the potential to transport us into some sort of rapturous ecstasy- the "sublime," I guess.

From this perspective, Masai Mara was certainly beautiful, but not necessary sublime. From dawn till dusk, eight of us toured the plains of the Serengeti in a safari van, getting up close and personal with dozens of our favorite zoo animals (lions, elephants, and cheetahs, to name a few). Yet even the lions lethargically slinked along completely indifferent to the vans that continuously cut off their paths. I wanted to fear the lion, to feel like my life could be taken at any moment by these meat hungry felines. I wanted the lion to fear me. But alas, they had grown all too accustomed to photo-snapping Europeans in funny looking beige hats. They knew better than to attack.

On the third day, I had the opportunity to visit a Masai village on the outskirts of the park. Each hut is made of hardened cow dung. The women provide all the manpower; the men serve the indispensable function of supervising the women (sorry guys, I don't think

becoming Masai is quite as easy as, say, converting to Presbyterianism or joining the vegans). They're on the Atkins diet and they don't even know it- milk and beef are their main staples. More than anything, I was impressed with the beauty and style of their traditional clothing. Tres chic. Look out, Versace- Masai couture will be huge!