Monkeys, Zebras, Elephants! What more could you ever want?

The monkey stole my banana! I was packing my bag for our hike to the peak of Mount Meru, the second highest mountain in Africa reaching 15,000 feet in height, located in the Arusha region of Tanzania. I left a couple of bananas on the top of my bag to remind me to have one before the start of our hike and then pack them. I went to ask our leader a question about the hike, when I heard some of my classmates (who were on the trip with me) laughing. I went to see what was so funny, and there was a monkey eating my bananas! From that point, I knew this hike was going to be an interesting and adventurous one. So the question “What's the most thrilling/magical/enchanting engagement you've had with the non-human world? “ can be answered by saying: reaching the top of Mount Meru was the most exhilarating thing I’ve done. You know that accomplished feeling you get when your done with a 25 page paper and you have it printed out, perfected and ready to hand in? Multiply that feeling by 1000 and add a beautiful view. I felt like I was alone- and honestly I felt like I appreciated nature. My trip to Tanzania made me realize that there is a certain feeling nature gives us that cannot be replaced with any technology in the world. Being on a safari and seeing elephants and giraffes in the wild, made me realize that nature is all we have- and we’re ruining it.


I went back to Jordan, I shared my pictures and memories, but then totally forgot about that feeling of serenity and calmness that nature provided me with. Is "saving nature" something we should concern ourselves with? Why, or why not? The answer is YES, we should concern ourselves with nature. Truthfully, before this class- I prioritized the economy. I never took the environmental concerns THAT seriously. I knew we were depleting the earth’s resources, but I never knew what we were really doing was destroying the nature to build tall skyscrapers. I know that we have discussed technologies that can help us with the damage we’ve already done. But we need to stop damaging because those technologies won’t give us the same satisfaction that nature would. Imagine walking down the street and not seeing a single tree- but instead seeing those big artificial trees that are just machines? If we don’t concern ourselves with nature- we will lose it. And when we do lose it , we will realize that we miss it and want it back; but then it would probably be too late.

In conclusion – I never really thought of the environment- but when I saw the beauty of nature, I never wanted to let that moment go. I was walking down the street this morning and picked up a leaf because its colors were so beautiful. If continue giving priority to the economy and technology over the environment- each one of may never see the site they shared with us over these blogs again.