After a busy Spring quarter I looked forward to heading north for a few days change of scene. A surprise to me however was the opportunity to “go on safari” in Sonoma county. This turned out to be a wonderful highlight.

One of the first sights was a baby giraffe taking somewhat complicated drinks of spray from a sprinkler.

At one point we passed another jeep and the guide called out to our driver that he had seen nothing in that part of the reserve. However, when we climbed the hills we saw quite a number of animals and in particular a zebra who pranced all around our jeep, seemingly to show off her stripes on all sides.

Another favorite was the serval cat. He was clever and entertaining and amazingly responsive to the trainer.

“Now where did she hide that meatball?”

We bumped around over the hills through groves of trees and saw a wide variety of African animals.

Once we came across a blockade.

Our guide, Jennifer, was a young gal of about 25, a biology and environmental studies student. She was both knowledgeable and friendly. I find so often the guide makes the trip.