Gretchen Oppriecht was given too little time to distill the thousands of memories she absorbed from almost four weeks visiting Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Botswana and South Africa in September and October this year. Traveling by air, boat and land brought Gretchen through the looking glass and into worlds of new creatures, unique habitats and diverse members of the human collage. 

The bright sunshine during our meeting was matched by Gretchen’s beaming smile but, unfortunately, her photos were diminished on the screen.  

However, the slides won’t give you the memorable experience of Gretchen demonstrating the mating dance of African ostriches, or how to identify female zebras on the hoof. Those instances will stay with those of us who were at our meeting. Gretchen brought a carving that depicts the “big five” mammals seen during her safaris – elephant, lion, leopard, buffalo, and rhinoceros. She was also impressed with cheetahs, impalas, warthogs, wildebeest, secretary-birds, kori bustards, baobab trees and the interconnectivity of life that seems more evident in the Ngorongoro plains in Tanzania. 

Thank you, Gretchen, for sharing your special moments and images.

Emma was excited to share her experiences visiting Chicago – museums and the aquarium among other places.