If someone had told me I could go 10 days without a cellphone, Internet/e-mail/online poker, or a television (TiVo, actually), I would have said it was impossible. What I recently found out was that not only could I do it, but it could be wonderful. You are probably thinking I was in the hospital again, or perhaps incarcerated for a serious misdeed. Au contraire, as a group including Linda Johnson and I accompanied Lee Jones and his friends and family on a safari to Kenya. We stayed at a lodge called Campi ya Kanzi (you can read more about it here: http://www.campiyakanzi.com/). It proved to be a truly life-changing experience. How does this relate to poker? Well, read on, as it is more about putting life into perspective and how poker fits into the bigger scheme of things than about how to play A-J suited from early position.
The flight from Las Vegas to Kenya took us through Newark, Amsterdam, and then into Nairobi. The next morning, our group of 11 boarded a 14-seater airplane for a one-hour flight to a grassy airstrip near the camp. Not counting all of the layovers, we spent more than 20 hours flying. During the 15-minute jeep ride to camp, we saw a herd of zebras, warthogs, impalas, and hartebeests. At the campsite, we were greeted by Maasai warriors/trackers, who, along with an Italian couple, Luca and Antonella, would be our hosts during our safari. As we approached some tents, our homes away from home for eight nights, we couldn't help but wonder what we had gotten ourselves into, and what we would do for the next eight days.
Mind you, the "tent" is called a tent only because it has canvas walls. It also comes equipped with a toilet, bidet, hot shower (solar powered), two twin beds, and a porch overlooking the compound on hundreds of acres of land, where giraffes, zebras, cape buffalo, and other wild animals were likely to wander by. It also included maid service three or four times a day. At night, once the temperature dropped into the 50s, they provided "turn down service." Their version of an electric blanket was a hot-water bottle in the bed. Was it rustic? Yes. Hard to handle? Absolutely not. It was amazing. We never had a dull moment, and during the infrequent times when we weren't out on safari, hiking, or eating gourmet Italian cuisine, we tried to catch some much needed nap time. We rode in Land Rovers where no man had ridden before. We followed animal tracks, not roads. We followed the fresh scent of lions stalking their prey. Oftentimes, we rounded a corner and a fancy feast had been set for us in the middle of the bush. We felt like we had won the reward challenges on Survivor.
I took about 1,500 photos but the "money shot," as I like to think of it, is the one in this column of the lion cubs. There were as curious of us as we were of them. Their mother was just out of view. There were four cubs in all. They had just killed a hartebeest, and it lay on the runway that we were about to use for a 6 a.m. ride around Mount Kilimanjaro in a six-seater plane. We were happy to delay the flight a few minutes while we watched the lion cubs anticipate their breakfast.
In addition to the thrill of seeing wild animals in their natural habitat, the highlight of the trip was meeting and learning about the Maasai tribe. The Maasai tribe and this particular camp are part of untouched and unmolested Africa. It is pure, it is wild, it is peaceful, and it is innocent. It is beautiful both in scenery and temperament. We were asked many eye-opening questions when spending one-on-one time with the tribesmen, such as, "Are there any black people in America?" and "Are all Americans rich?"
These are an unspoiled people who live in an area where time stands still. Most have never seen a television. Their lives are difficult but they don't know, nor seek, anything different. They are some of the happiest and most honorable people I have ever had the pleasure to meet. They measure their net worth by how many cows they have, because cows provide their basic needs: They drink their milk and blood, use cow dung to build and maintain their huts, and use their hides for leather goods.
Maasai children are happy, beautiful, and gentle, and have nothing (by our materialistic standards). I chose to leave behind a pair of running shoes that had pretty well outlived their usefulness to me in the gym. I asked our host, Luca, if someone would be able to use them. "Yes," he replied. I realized then that most of these kind and friendly people had no shoes at all. They have two sets of clothes, one for everyday wear and another for festivals, weddings, and special occasions.
Eight days flew by before we knew it. I am humbled and honored to have been included in the group of 11 who ventured out to see this unspoiled, beautiful part of the world. I am changed for it. By the time this issue goes to press, virtually all of the World Series of Poker winners will have been crowned. I am at home after finishing about 200th in a field of 1,128 in a no-limit hold'em event. Am I angry that I didn't win it or make the money? No. I feel a calmness about me that I haven't felt in many years.
When I am through writing, I will watch some TV, take a hot shower, put on a nice soft robe, and then retire to my king-size bed with 400-thread count sheets. In the morning, I will put on the coffee pot and go about my American way of life, yet I will think of my friends across the world who will begin their day without a chance to bathe, put on fresh clothes, or have any privacy for their routine activities. The elder sons will be out in the fields herding the cows, the women will be building, cooking, and tending the children, and the kids will be running around playing. What will they have in common with poker players? Not much. What will they have that so many of us do not have? They will be smiling and have a pride within.
And as for poker, it is a game - nothing more, nothing less. It isn't life and death; it isn't the need for two cows to buy an education for your oldest son. It is a game, rather than life or the end all, be all. We should take a page from the Maasai playbook. Class dismissed. 
As always, please e-mail me your poker-related questions and comments to [email protected]. Also, please visit www.cardplayercruises.com. Remember, the Oasis Open will again be held in Mesquite, Nevada over Labor Day weekend, so please mark your calendars now.
