"Don't worry dear, we will be safe in Africa."

Those were the words I said to my wife as we flew to our honeymoon destination, 10,000 miles from our home in Portland, Oregon. I had grown up in several countries in Africa. I had studied, worked and traveled back to Africa multiple times since, but this was my wife's first trip to a third world destination like Kenya. I had wanted to show her the majesty and beauty of Africa while having a taste of my experiences to better understand my background.

I assured her we would be met at the airport by my homestay father of years ago who would whisk us to the relative safety of his home. He is a towering friendly Luhya man named Habil who generally beams confidence wherever he goes. He indeed did meet us amongst the throngs of taxi men and con artists looking to prey on unsuspecting visitors at the airport. We were led to his car as we exchanged pleasantries. I asked how things were and he had a beleagured look on his face. He proceeded to tell us how his home has just suffered from an attack from a group of lightly armed bandits a couple nights before. At least three men had scaled their walls, entered their home to steal their valuables and had been fought off by the collective efforts of the family of six. The eldest son had a machete wound to his forehead as evidence of the struggle. Wonderful start.

The scary story unnerved my wife, but not as much as the next occurrence. About 10 minutes from the airport on the main highway was the body of a dead man lying by the side of the road uncovered, the apparent victim of a violent hit and run. In Africa, they often don't rush to cover the body and ambulances are slow to arrive. We had never seen a dead body out in the open and it was clearly unnerving.

We arrived safely to our host's home and things seem to have returned to some semblance of order and normality. A night watchman had been hired temporarily as a result of the recent attack to provide extra security. The family was genuinely thrilled to meet my wife, because I had been one of their favorite home stays years before and had stayed in touch. It was an honor for them and we all enjoyed each other's company. The next morning we headed into Nairobi for a tour. Nairobi is a densely crowded, bustling African city. To those who are not prepared, it can be quite overwhelming. There are people everywhere, many beggars, much pollution, traffic congestion and it can be very intimidating. After that morning trip, my wife insisted I do all the trip preparations in Nairobi, while she would remain with our hosts.

I was quite accustomed to Nairobi and proceede to arrange a number of outings around Kenya for our two weeks in Kenya before we headed to Zimbabwe for the final two weeks of our honeymoon. We went on a tented safari in Maasai Mara to view the animals. We ended the trip by flying up in a 4 seater plane to an exclusive resort in northern Kenya which was quite luxurious for another exotic safari.

In between these two nice trips, we traveled to western Kenya to visit another of my homestay familes. This was a very rural destination. We had to take an overnight bus to get there, which broke down somewhere in the rift valley at 3 in the morning. When we arrived in the regional capital of Kakamega, I rented a local bush taxi to take us the rest of the way. The roads are very rough and the car even rougher. Imagine a 30 year old beater with a sledgehammer taken to it. I've been in some where you can see down through the floorboards (african air conditioning). Most of the bush taxi's starters were shot so they would have to get a push for a jumpstart each time. We were eventually dropped off in the local small town of Emasatsi. From there, we had to walk the last mile or two by foot along winding paths through the rolling hillsides and farm country.

The Ambale compound consisted of three mud huts and one cinder block home. No running water or electricity existed and bathrooms consisted of a hole in the floor of the outhouse/bathouse. The family couldn't have been more thrilled to meet my wife and see me again. They are truly the quintessential rural farming African family with 7-8 kids living as Africans have lived for hundreds of years. Their perspective on life is so different to be around. While we had a good visit and immersion into local culture, enduring those conditions was challenging for my wife or anyone unaccustomed to third world conditons.

We went on have a great two weeks in Zimbabwe. Fortunately, the infrastructure of Zimbabwe at the time was much better. We rented a car and ventured on our own for most of it. We also flew to a couple other destinations for safaris, canoe trips down the Zambezi and the like. We had an amazing time traveling on our own throughtout the country trouble free. She loved Zimbabwe in comparison and the honeymoon was very memorable and truly eye opening for both of us.

I had intended to share a sampling of all my African experiences for her to understand and appreciate my upbringing. She was a good sport dealing with some of the hardships, but to this day she insists it was all a test for her to pass to become my wife. Which of course makes no sense because we were already married, but it makes for a humorous story. I suceeded in keeping her safe, but not before showing her some of the perils that are omnipresent when traveling in Africa.