Criss-crossing with the Jonathans

I would have liked to call this piece ‘Bumping into the Jonathans’ but that will be a great big lie because we never really saw the former First Family in Kenya, and you can’t bump into someone you didn’t see. But while rushing to catch our early morning flight from Mombasa back to Nairobi, my […]

I would have liked to call this piece ‘Bumping into the Jonathans’ but that will be a great big lie because we never really saw the former First Family in Kenya, and you can’t bump into someone you didn’t see.
But while rushing to catch our early morning flight from Mombasa back to Nairobi, my husband did his daily ritual of buying the day’s newspapers. Lo and behold, it was Goodluck Jonathan in the cover photo of The Nation newspaper, being welcomed to Mara by Narok county governor, Samuel Tunai.
More photos inside the paper showed him sprightly alighting from the plane, in casual attire and then next to his wife Dame Patience, at the same place. The photo caption said Mr Jonathan was in Maasai Mara game reserve for a three day safari, with his wife and two children, and to witness the annual migration of the wildebeest from Kenya to Tanzania, over the crocodile-infested Mara river.
The first time I heard about the wildebeest was over two decades ago while watching an episode of the Cosby Show. Bill Cosby’s TV son Theo, was advising him to send Grandma and Grandpa (Cosby’s parents) ‘to Nairobi to see the mating of the wildebeest because they will become extinct.’ Theo’s suggestion was to be a 50th wedding anniversary gift for his grandparents. Then, as now, I had wondered what  was there to see in the mating of the wildebeests, or any other animals for that matter.
It’s a relief to know that our former president was there to witness something else the wildebeests are known for- annual migration. And who knows, the whole family might learn a thing or two about migration, especially in the light of the searchlights being beamed their way back home. For now we can’t begrudge Mr Jonathan his leisurely pursuits, he has to find a way to spend his loot (oops), his sabbatical, in peace.