My trip to Kenya last week is still on my mind. There wasn’t a moment during my travels where I wasn’t feeling inspired by the people around me.

Whether it was the chance encounter of a young bride as she took her final steps away from home or the Masai women who are changing their children’s education for the better.

As I’ve mentioned before my trip to Kenya developed because of a story I’m writing for a print publication (There is much to tell and I’ll be sure to share here when it’s ready to hit newsstands) but in going through the dozens of photos and videos I took on the trip, there were a few moments that I knew I wanted to try to capture and share with you here.

This is another one of them.

The Masai Warrior Walk takes place every morning at Bogani – a camp owned and operated by Me to We. The organization is a sister to “Free the Children” the charitable organization started by Craig Keilburger when he was 11 years old and trying to make a difference in the lives of third world children who were being forced to work as child slaves.  More on that at another time, but suffice it to say that both “Me to We” and “Free the Children” are doing incredible things around the world and made me a believer that while there is a lot of work to be done, we can make a difference.

I had the pleasure of spending a few days at Bogani seeing what they do on a Me to We family trip first hand.

Bogani Welcome

Staff welcoming us to Bogani

And despite the jet lag that plagued me throughout my stay I forced myself to get up each morning to join the 7 a.m. walk. Why? Because it was led by a Masai warrior. Every morning we’d walk for a short time in silence across the savannah with an eye peeled for animals, knowing that more were seeing us than we were seeing, and embrace the day. The accompanying warrior, spear in hand, would answer our questions and quietly lead us across the grasslands they know best.

Zebra walk

We were this close to the animals. It was an incredible privilege.

Zebras Mara

Zebras appeared on our morning walk.

 

This walk was pre-coffee, pre-breakfast and pre-conversation and yet every day it left me energized and excited about the day ahead.

Mornings can be tough. Here’s hoping the video clip below offers you a glimpse into an alternative way to start the day and gives you  as sense of what the silence felt like.

And for the record: The cold wind whipping through was as regular as the walk.

Still worth it.