Zhiming Lawyer Holds Red Flag Travels Through Three Countries - Ten-Day Journey to East Africa's Kenya

📅 2019-10-12 📂 Updates Updates 🏷️ #EastAfrica #Tanzania #Ethiopia #WangTengfeng #Travelogue #Kenya

Wang Tengfeng, Director of Guangdong Zhiming Law Firm

The original essence of life is living, and the ideal meaning of life is not only living but also work and career. However, work and career cannot fully replace the meaning of life. Beyond striving in career and working to the fullest, one should also explore the mysteries of life and the true essence of living. Life on earth is like grass and trees in spring and autumn—how grass turns green and trees wither, how vast and splendid the world truly is, one should go and see more. Having experienced the bitter cold of the South and North Poles, enjoyed the sea views of the Maldives and Palau (①), admired the mountain scenery of the Himalayas and the Andes (②), and toured the landscapes of seven continents and four oceans, I had yet to witness the wonders of wildlife on the East African savannah. So, taking advantage of the National Day holiday, we specially brought small national flags and embarked on this East African journey of visiting three countries with flags in hand. To faithfully record the experiences and insights of this trip, I hereby write this article for the enjoyment of readers.

1. China-Africa friendship has a long history, and the Belt and Road Initiative has borne fruit.

On the morning of September 26 at 9:30, we took off with a roar from Guangzhou Baiyun Airport aboard a Boeing 787—8, crossing the Pacific and Indian Oceans over a distance of 8,051 kilometers. After nine hours and thirty-five minutes in flight, we arrived in the local afternoon in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, which is five hours behind, marking the first stop of our three-country tour in Africa. Upon leaving the airport and glancing along the way, what came into view somewhat overturned my preconceived impressions——Ethiopia is not extremely impoverished after all! Compared to our neighboring country North Korea, it even seems somewhat more affluent, because at least market economic activities are proceeding normally here. Arriving at the hotel was even more of an eye-opener. This Ethiopian Airlines Cloud Sky Hotel is by no means inferior to domestic four- or five-star hotels, with a spacious, bright, and elegantly upscale lobby. The rooms are quite comfortable, neatly arranged with bright and clean windows, and outside the windows are blue skies and white clouds, elevated roads with flowing traffic, and a cityscape comparable to a domestic “third-tier city.”

Sending distant greetings for the 70th National Day from Africa

What surprised me even more was that I had expected to be scorched by the blazing sun and overwhelmed by the heat the moment I stepped off the plane. Instead, the moment I walked out of the airport, I was greeted by a surprisingly cool and pleasant breeze. It was during one of East Africa's best tourist seasons. Although the sun was bright, the temperature was not high, generally ranging between the teens and low twenties in Celsius, with a touch of chill in the mornings and evenings.

A warm group photo with Ethiopian children

In conclusion, Africa's economy still lags behind the rest of the world. But experiencing it firsthand greatly changed my outdated impressions——each African country has its own characteristics, and Africa as a whole is developing!

A group photo with Kenyan schoolchildren

Addis Ababa also has a somewhat "prosperous" hotel and commercial street area, where supermarkets and nightclubs display a relatively rich variety of goods that basically meet people's daily needs——starkly different from what I saw during my trip to Cuba earlier this year, where no ration coupons for shopping were required. However, compared with our great, prosperous, and flourishing China, there is still a notable gap of the times!

Group photo with Tanzanian schoolchildren

The next day, under the guidance of our local Ethiopian tour guide, we visited the Ethiopian National Museum and a local Orthodox cathedral, learning that Ethiopia is a country with a majority of Orthodox Christian believers. Learned that "Lucy," the "mother of humankind" and "first mother" — discovered and named by American archaeologists in Ethiopia in 1974, dates back 3.18 million years. During the trip, we also visited street markets and other upscale hotels. It is worth mentioning that throughout the entire day, we went through an excessive number of security checks, each requiring the removal of belts and shoes. While people felt somewhat overwhelmed by the strictness and tediousness of these security measures, they also gave a thumbs-up to the heightened security awareness. This is the case everywhere in the three East African countries. Amid our puzzlement, we reasoned that this is likely due to their proximity to the Middle East and the presence of a considerable number of Muslim believers among their citizens. In times of peace, prepare for danger; strictness surpasses laxity!

Group photo at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro with Tanzanians

On the 28th, we flew to Nairobi to begin our three-day tour of Kenya. On October 1st, I crossed the border by land for a three-day visit to Tanzania. On October 4th, I flew back to Guangzhou from Kilimanjaro Airport in Tanzania, with a stopover in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. This completed a ten-day journey through three East African countries. Throughout the trip, all the local guides who welcomed us were ethnic Chinese. It is said that there are currently 200,000 to 300,000 Chinese in Ethiopia, which has relatively open policies and is striving to learn from and emulate China’s development path, with a vibrant economy and growing popularity and enormous development prospects; Kenya has about 50,000 Chinese and, among the three countries, has the strongest economic foundation but average policy development; Tanzania has the fewest Chinese, fewer than 50,000, and among the three countries, due to party struggles, its policies have become conservative and its openness has regressed, with more restrictions on Chinese business operations and a sharp decline in the number of Chinese. Most Chinese in the three countries run hotels, Chinese restaurants, or trading businesses locally, and generally speaking, whether in business or as employees, they are considered part of the wealthy class in their local African countries. Each household hires local Black women as domestic helpers, with pay generally around 300-400 RMB per month, and they do cleaning and sanitation very well. Compared with the monthly salaries of 5,000 to 10,000 RMB for nannies and domestic services in China, the difference is like heaven and earth! Along the way, we almost always stayed and dined at hotels and restaurants built or managed by Chinese. Apart from the fact that local Chinese food ingredients are not particularly abundant, most of the Chinese dishes produced were no worse than Chinese food in countries such as Europe and America, which also surprised us somewhat.

A replica of the fossil of "Lucy," a human ancestor discovered through archaeological findings.

Along the route through the three countries, buildings, roads, machinery, and equipment invested in, contracted, or aided by Chinese enterprises are visible everywhere, and signs in Chinese and national flags are also frequently seen. The Ethiopian Airlines Cloud Sky Hotel where we stayed on the first day is a five-star hotel built by China and managed by Shenzhen Grand Skylight Hotel Management Co., Ltd. Coinciding with the grand celebration of the 70th anniversary of the founding of China, the hotel conference hall hung a huge sign jointly produced by the Chinese Embassy in Ethiopia and the Chinese Mission to the African Union for the "Reception Celebrating the 70th Anniversary of the Founding of the People's Republic of China," used for the National Day banquet; on the intercity transportation in Kenya, newly built railway trains aided by China with speeds of over 100 kilometers per hour are running; in the customs visa hall entering Tanzania from Kenya, a "Nuctech" brand security inspection device donated by China lies horizontally. China's investment, contracted construction, and aid are truly improving and elevating the poverty and backwardness of East African countries. East African citizens, from three-year-old children to adult men and women, whenever they see us, proactively call us Chinese (china) and do not mistake us for Japanese or Koreans, showing how deep the impression is. Pure emotions. They casually said “hello, goodbye, thank you,” every word pleasant to the ear. At the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, local non-citizens even took the initiative to bring out a large five-star red flag to take photos with us as a memento, showing sincere friendship, full of smiling goodwill, and letting out heartfelt laughter. Compared with “Vietnam,” which has likewise received China’s long-term gratuitous assistance, and in recent years has copied China’s development model and repeatedly received China’s favors to achieve development, yet is hostile toward China in every way, this makes us Chinese feel much more at ease——if people do not know gratitude but instead repay kindness with enmity, are they not then no better than the wild animals on the East African savanna?!

A replica of the fossil of "Lucy," a human ancestor discovered through archaeological findings.

Every word and action of the locals was heartwarming and friendly. Even Using broken Chinese, When they approached us asking for "cooling oil" and "essential balm," it all sounded so endearing. The locals in Africa have a particular fondness for Chinese "cooling oil" and "essential balm," treasuring them as rare commodities. It is said that they like to use them to treat physical discomforts such as headaches and fevers. During our trip to the three East African countries, we made a point of purchasing and bringing along a supply of pencils, cooling oil, essential balm, candies, and pastries, which we gave out along the way to schoolchildren and local people in the three East African countries. Their faces beamed with joy and gratitude.

2. Natural Scenery of Infinite Beauty, Sustainable Ecological Development

On the third day in East Africa, we headed to Lake Naivasha, the hometown of the fish eagle in Kenya. This is a lake nestled in the East African Rift Valley at an altitude of 1,890 meters. Flamingos swim in flocks across the lake, and from a distance, streaks of rosy clouds seem inlaid among the white clouds, creating a truly magnificent sight. The East African Rift Valley exists in tandem with the East African savanna. Unlike the rift valleys we commonly know elsewhere in the world, its elevation difference between the valley floor and the cliff tops ranges from several hundred meters to 2,000 meters, with numerous volcanoes scattered across the plateaus on both sides; more than 30 lakes lie in a beaded string along the valley floor; and the rift valley spans from as narrow as a few hundred meters to as wide as tens or even hundreds of kilometers on each side, far from the clear, narrow, dry gullies or water-filled ravines we see in Europe, America, or other places. Descending to the valley floor, one finds a scene that feels like an vast savanna—lush grass, abundant water, animals everywhere, and breathtaking scenery that fills the heart with joy.

Giant giraffes on the grassland

On the fourth day in East Africa, we began traveling in specially modified safari off-road jeeps, journeying daily through the Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya and the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania, tracking rare birds and exotic animals and witnessing spectacular wildlife wonders. The Maasai Mara Reserve in Kenya covers an area of 1,800 square kilometers, while the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania spans 30,000 square kilometers. Neither park has the absolute barriers such as walls and wire fencing commonly seen in China; only at the entrance roads are there gate checkpoints where duty officers manage fees and maintain security. The wildlife habitat areas naturally connect and blend seamlessly with human settlements, with no absolute separation. The grasslands of the parks feature lush grass and abundant water, with interconnected ravines. There are rolling hills and slopes, low-lying marshes, and shrublands and woodlands—completely different from the grasslands familiar to Chinese visitors, such as the Inner Mongolian grasslands, which are almost entirely flat, vast, and boundless. Moreover, since East African countries enacted conservation laws early on, and international animal protection organizations provide additional oversight, people strictly comply with, enforce, and abide by the law, and tourists cannot overstep the rules. As a result, the East African savanna can sustain and propagate hundreds of species and millions of rare birds and exotic animals. This is why the wildlife on the East African savanna is generally unafraid of humans. Without excessive disturbance or provocation, the animals often approach tourist vehicles and crowds, moving about leisurely and at ease. This gives rise to the magnificent spectacle of wildlife on the East African savanna endlessly reproducing, thriving naturally, and undergoing survival of the fittest.

Grassland giraffe nursing

Grassland African elephant herd

The greatest animal spectacle on the East African savanna is the annual Great Migration between the Serengeti and Maasai Mara reserves. Every July and August, when the Maasai Mara in northern Kenya welcomes its continuous rainy season with lush grass and abundant water, vast herds of wildebeest, zebras, and buffaloes cross the Mara River from Tanzania's Serengeti into Kenya's Maasai Mara. Along the arduous 3,000-kilometer journey, fierce lions, cheetahs, and other carnivores lurk in the grass or trail behind, waiting to ambush and hunt the herbivores. The migration scene is spectacular, while the hunting scenes are brutal and tragic. Since our arrival was not during the peak season, we missed the grand and awe-inspiring migration scenes often shown on CCTV. However, we still managed to catch some small-scale scenes of zebras, wildebeests, and buffaloes crossing rivers—better than nothing and worth the trip. It was common to see zebras and other animals filing through intersections where tourist vehicles were parked for photos. I suddenly understood the origin of international zebra crossings.

Zebra herd crossing the vehicle intersection on the grassland

Throughout the entire journey, we observed many rare wild animals: elephants, giraffes, zebras, wildebeests, hippos, lions, rhinos, buffaloes, crocodiles, cheetahs, leopards, hyenas, wild dogs, aardwolves, jackals, warthogs, baboons, marabou storks, monkeys, golden wolves, various sizes of antelopes, mongooses, Egyptian eagles, lapwings, honeyguides, guinea fowls, ground hornbills, leopard tortoises, etc. There were also many small birds and animals that we could not see clearly or identify in time. Among them, elephants, lions, leopards, rhinos, and buffaloes are known as the “Big Five” of the East African savanna. Fortunately, during this journey, we were able to see all of the “Big Five” in their full glory, with none escaping our notice. It is worth mentioning that African giraffes are by no means as delicate as the giraffes commonly seen in zoos in our country; they are generally enormous in size, reaching four to five meters in height, and with a single kick of their legs, animals such as lions and cheetahs are either killed or injured, making it very difficult for lions, cheetahs, and other predators to hunt them.

Wildebeest herd galloping across the grassland

A vigilant antelope looking around on the grassland.

What was even more remarkable was that we repeatedly witnessed lions mating and wild geese mating, and we also saw a young giraffe nursing, only to have its mother kick it away, as if telling the calf that it had grown up and could no longer nurse, and must learn to be self-reliant and graze on wild grass…… We saw many animals paired together in flight, gazing affectionately at each other, heads lowered as if whispering, and we saw the heartwarming scene of a family of three elephants strolling together, among many other lovely moments. We also saw occasional animal bones scattered across the grassland, the very mark of the natural law of the jungle—the survival of the fittest and the elimination of the weak. We also saw a wounded, bleeding male lion, pitifully alone and separated from its pride, crossing the road where our safari convoy was parked, heading into the bushes on the hillside to heal its wounds. It is said that once healed, it can rejoin the pride; otherwise, it can only die alone!

The hotels we stayed at within the park feature unique and distinctive designs that blend naturally with the surroundings. Most are built to follow the contours of the hills. Climbing the steps to the top, you can dine and enjoy tea while taking in the delightful scenery, which has a charm all its own. Inside and outside the restaurant at the top, small animals such as rock hyraxes dart and play among the rocks. The hotels are surrounded by green trees, with blue skies, white clouds, and verdant mountains adorned in soft hues, while hundreds of birds sing joyfully in chorus……

A male lion lurking and stalking on the grassland.

A male lion chasing a herd of zebras.

Every morning upon waking, we took deep breaths, feeling the fresh air invigorating our lungs. After breakfast, we followed the convoy, gazing into the distance at the dawn painting the sky with colors and mist drifting. The grassland was dotted with green trees and thick with weeds. As the morning mist dissipated, the sun shone brightly, presenting a warm and peaceful scene on the grassland. Among the grass and bushes, birds and animals roamed freely without fear, either grazing, lying in the sun, foraging and playing, or chirping. Giraffes and gazelles wandered on the grass, storks and Egyptian vultures perched on branches looking around, while hippos and crocodiles lurked in ponds resting. But in the distance, there were also scattered lions, leopards, or hyenas lurking by the grass. Various animals and birds appeared one after another, creating a scene so delightful and picturesque that it felt like a fairy tale. It is said that the American movie *The Lion King* was inspired by the animal素材 of the East African savanna.

African eagle spreads its wings

Wild geese and waterfowl in the Pearl Lake of the grassland

Flamingo flocks in Lake Naivasha, Kenya

Ten days on the East African savanna, taking in the scenery all the way. Holding the red flag high as I traveled through three countries, I was deeply struck by the tremendous and far-reaching impact of the Belt and Road Initiative on the development of African nations. Its benefits for the people of Africa are enduring and are continuing to deepen and gain momentum, and the friendship between our peoples will once again be infused with new vitality and vigor. Ten days on the East African savanna, and though I journeyed thousands of miles away, the song "My Motherland and I" often echoed in my ears: wherever I go, a song of praise flows forth……. Being in a foreign land, I felt even more deeply the pride and honor of being a great Chinese! Ten days on the East African savanna, touring three countries, I observed countless rare birds and exotic animals, broadened my horizons, and feasted my eyes. I was profoundly moved by how East African nations, despite enduring poverty, have long adhered to a national policy of sustainable development centered on ecological and environmental protection, and I greatly admire the harmonious coexistence of humanity and nature they have fostered. At the same time, I hold boundless admiration for China today, under the strong advocacy of General Secretary Xi, in building an ecologically civilized nation and society and in putting forward the national development concept that “lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets.” The great strategic decisions of the Party and the government will surely lead China to build itself into a brand-new nation that is both prosperous and strong and ecologically civilized, standing proudly among the nations of the century. I am proud of my motherland! On October 4, carrying with us the intoxicating beauty of the vast East African savanna and the deep sentiments of China-Africa friendship, our plane crossed over the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro and soared among the blue sky and white clouds as we returned home.