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Cover Story |
The wonder and beauty of Africa |
By Earl Smith |
do you see a shimmering mirage, a distant oasis teeming with cool waters, succulent fruits? The latter is the image of Africa that I have — only it is not a mirage. The image is real. My first encounter with Africa |
who have spent as little as one day in Africa. "It was unlike anything I had ever experienced in my entire life," said one friend who had just returned from a trip where she witnessed the migration of millions of wildebeest on the Serengeti Plain of East Africa, the area where most anthropologists contend is the birthplace of humanity. "It was breathtaking, awesome, beautiful," said another friend about Victoria Falls (pictured on the cover of SHOES). "I had never seen such beauty anywhere else," he said. |
was in 1969 when, as a member of the U.S. Air Force, our plane landed |
in Tripoli, Libya enroute to a year-long tour in northeast Turkey. It marked the first time I stepped on foreign soil. Little did I know that the brief month I spent in Libya would forever change my life. Africa has a way of doing that to you — at least that's what I've heard from others |
Does it conjure up images of exotic animals? Hot, bleak landscapes? Rain-soaked forests? What do you see? When you stand and look out over one of Africa's blistering savannahs, while shading your eyes against the sun, |
hat comes to mind when you hear the word "Africa'? |