Jambo!
That’s Swahili for hello, a greeting appropriate for today’s post which was inspired by Vahe Gregorian’s Kansas City Star article on Salvatore Perez’s photo safari in Kenya. To get an initial feel for Salvy’s overall experience, check out this 2-minute KC Star video with highlights of the trip.
This is personal for Rita and me. Our first African photo safari was in Kenya, and Vahe’s article transported us back to 1989. We were in a group tour led by Kansas City Zoo director Ralph Waterhouse, and I specifically remember what I said on our first game drive. After viewing so many beautiful animals in the wild, I turned to Rita and said, “I already got my money’s worth.” We still had 11 days to go. And it only got better.
So, Vahe’s recounting of Salvy’s response was no surprise to us.
Vahe: “With his shimmering smile, joy he takes in the game and sheer vitality, we’ve seldom – if ever – seen a more effervescent public presence than the Royals icon Salvador Perez…Call it recency bias, but I don’t believe I ever saw him more eager and animated than last week, when I went to speak with him about an 11-day trip to Kenya this past offseason.”
Salvy: A “100 percent life-changing” experience. “You have to go and see it, so you can feel what I feel…I think God sent me a sign.”
Vahe: “With the childlike wonder that still defines him [Salvy turned 35 last week], Perez proceeded to try to bring us along by sharing some of the hundreds of photos he took in Africa.”
Salvy was lured to Kenya by the Royals team photographer Jason Hanna whose baseball photos have often appeared in Hot Stove. I’ll add a new one now, taken when the Royals were rained out last month.
What’s cool about the above photo is Hanna’s caption: “Sometimes the weather doesn’t allow you to make Royals baseball photos. So instead you pivot, appreciate the raw power of Mother Nature and make lightning photos at the K.! ⚡️⚾️👑”
Hanna is familiar with another major Mother Nature experience. After the 2023 season, he went on a photo safari in Kenya with a group of photographers escorted by Maasai tribesmen. Hanna scheduled a repeat trip after the 2024 season and encouraged Salvy to join the group. Salvy decided to go, but he did not plan on making real photography part on his trip. Hanna wisely brought along an extra high-end camera, and Salvy got into it.
The Animals: Vahe on Salvy: “What struck him as surreal during the excursions to three separate wildlife conservancies was being so up-close and personal with the majestic animals and sometimes even insects.”
Vahe got a similar take from Jason Hanna: “Standing near the Royals dugout…Hanna looked toward center field and imagined gazing through binoculars at a leopard. That would be cool enough, he said. But not quite the experience of looking at one a few feet away in the dugout – a sensation he reveled in seeing Perez feel at so many turns as they traversed the terrain in Toyota Landcruiser FJs with canvas tops.” [More on leopard close-ups in the “popcorn” story later in this post.]
Salvy raved about the 3,000 elephants he saw, including some he engaged virtually eye to eye.
And he was “wowed” by this big spider.
In the video at the beginning of this post, there are shots of lions, zebras, elephants and giraffes. In Vahe’s article, Salvy spoke of the often-aggressive hippos he heard outside of his tent.
The most beautiful beast? Salvy: “I think just to see a lion in person is pretty good: ‘King of the jungle’…You know the movie Madagascar? I feel I was inside Madagascar.”
The Locals: As much as Salvy enjoyed the wildlife, his engagement with the locals was the part that made the trip transformative. His smile and manner, not his unknown baseball stardom, drew them to him, especially the kids. Photo by Jason Hanna.
Salvy was especially impressed with how they embraced life, notwithstanding primitive living conditions and wondering if they would have enough food and water each day. “And they live so happy every day, dancing. It’s unbelievable.”
More Safaris in Salvy’s Future?: It looks like Salvy plans to return. Vahe: “All part of a life-changing experience Perez was extra-thrilled to talk about and plans to repeat – and hopes might resonate with you, too.”
And repeat, and repeat, etc. if Lonnie and Rita’s experience is any indication.
Lonnie and Rita’s Excellent African Adventures: As noted earlier, Rita and I ventured to Kenya in 1989 for our first African photo safari. And we were hooked.
Ralph Waterhouse, director of the Kansas City Zoo organized that first trip, and when he moved on to become director of the Fresno Zoo, we joined him for trips to Zambia/Zimbabwe (1994) and Tanzania (1996). The animal kingdom setting in the Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania has our vote as the Eighth Wonder of the World.
After his retirement, Ralph has continued to lead trips, and we joined him in South Africa in 2009 and Zambia in 2011. Below, a group photo from the South Africa trip. Ralph is the elevated one (he is seated on a land rover), and Rita and I are on the left. To my left is Ralph’s wife Cheryl.
Rita and I have been fortunate to travel to over a hundred countries. We concur that African photo safaris are at the top of the list of our favorite trips. The Africa position was so strong that we could not identify second place for many years. That changed in 2007 when we cruised the Galapagos and mingled with those wonderful animals made famous by Darwin. Third place came in 2008 with the tuxedoed penguins of Antarctica. Before anyone thinks we just like wild animals, we cannot get enough of Italy.
On our first three Africa trips, we were still using film cameras, so photos were more difficult to share. Then came digital, and we have online travelogues for South Africa, Zambia, Antarctica and the Galapagos. All can be found on this travelogues link on my website. The travelogues are longer than a Hot Stove, so you might just want to scroll through the photos to give you a flavor of why we loved these trips. But in truth, the photos and narrative cannot fully capture the beauty, sounds, smells and excitement of the game drive experience. It’s best if you are in the room where it happens. Recommendation: Book your trip today.
I will tell one safari story. In South Africa in 2009, we were out early on a chilly morning (note Rita’s gloves). We would soon be warmed by excitement.
We stopped to photograph a giraffe, but our guide KG thought the giraffe seemed to be attentive to a predator in the area. We then heard alarm shrieks from monkeys, and KG drove to the area that appeared to be the focus of the giraffe and monkeys. KG whiffed a smell of popcorn and told us that a leopard had sprayed urine to mark its territory. And sure enough, we were soon rewarded with a sighting of a young female ambling along, spraying as she went. We followed her through the bush, thrilled with this close-up of such a beautiful creature. We soon took up the cry of “I love the smell of popcorn in the morning,” borrowing from Robert Duvall’s napalm line in Apocalypse Now.
The Salvy Splash: Salvy and his fellow safari members “glamped” more than “camped.” On most safaris, the meals are good, the staff is first-rate, and the facilities are amazingly comfortable for being out in the wild. But there are limitations on electricity and water usage as Rita and I know from our experience. Vahe quipped that this meant Salvy had bucket showers in the wild, an entirely different sort of “Salvy Splash.”
I’ll always remember the billboard on Chip Schmelzer’s building on Southwest Trafficway. A giant Salvy Splash celebrating the start of the 2016 season after the Royals had won the World Series the previous fall.
And although Salvy has delegated some of his splash duties, he took pleasure earlier this month in giving a birthday dousing to Royals broadcaster Joel Goldberg.
Errata Report – Salvy or Kjerstad?: This Salvy story involves a newspaper publishing error, but first I’ll admit that such mistakes can also happen in Hot Stove.
In a Hot Stove where I talked about Kansas City’s Gold Glove outfielder, I called him Jason Isbel. Richard Martin responded with “it’s Kyle not Jason Isbel.” Whoops. Not that I’m at all familiar with the songs of artist Jason Isbell, his name somehow got stuck in my brain. [Isbell Trivia: Jason is a lifelong Atlanta Braves fan and threw out the first pitch at a Braves playoff game in 2023.]
When I did my piece on the history of the Chiefs, I quoted broadcaster Jack Buck saying that the Chiefs needed some “Mahomes Magic” to come back in Super Bowl LIV. The Chiefs won, but I did not. No less than three Hot Stove readers pointed out that it was Joe Buck, not his father Jack (RIP, 2002). My excuse? I’m old enough to have a better memory of broadcaster Jack Buck than his son Joe.
The good news is that I can correct these errors before my son Brian archives the Hot Stoves on the website. So, I “passed the Buck” from Jack to Joe, and Isbel is now Kyle. I need to go to Spotify and listen to some Jason Isbell songs.
As for Salvy, check out the caption for this photo that ran in the KC Star.
For the record, the Orioles Heston Kjerstad does wear #13. But that’s Salvy.
Salvy and the Royals in 2025: Salvy and the Royals are so far repeating their roller coaster year of 2024. Great pitching with just enough hitting to have a winning record. And enough, as of today, to be in the 2025 postseason.
On Mother’s Day this past Sunday, Salvy had the honor of catching the ceremonial first pitch from his mother (video here).
This coming weekend, the Royals are celebrating their two World Series winning teams. Only one player remains an active Royal from that 2015 team. Salvador Perez.
Lonnie’s Jukebox (1) – Graceland Edition: In 1984, Paul Simon became fascinated with a bootleg cassette of South African street music. He spent two weeks in Johannesburg recording with South African musicians during a tense time with the country still being under apartheid rule.
Simon continued working on the album in the states, and Graceland was released in 1986. The album incorporated many genres, including pop, rock, zydeco and various African influences, such as the street music of Soweto. African musicians are used in many of the cuts, and Simon hired 28 Black South Africans for the album tour. The album was a big success, winning the Grammy for album of the year. It has sold over 16 million copies.
“You Can Call Me Al” – This official video version features 6’4” Chevy Chase lip synching some of the words sung by 5’3” Paul Simon.
“Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes” – Simon with South African male choral group Ladysmith Black Mambazo.
“Under African Skies” – Guest vocalist, Linda Ronstadt.
“Graceland” – Guest vocalists, the Everly Brothers. Rita and I joined Bob Morantz and Marsha Murphy at Sandstone in 1991 to see Simon sing this as part of the setlist for his Rhythm of the Saints tour.
A month before we saw Simon at Sandstone, he was at Central Park singing to 500,000 fans.
“Still Crazy After All These Years” by Paul Simon at Central Park on August 15, 1991. Title song from his 1975 album.
Lonnie’s Jukebox (2) – Out of Africa Edition: Rita and I recently rewatched the 1985 movie Out of Africa. We have watched it many times for two main reasons, (i) it’s a very good movie, won the Oscar for best picture, and (ii) well, it’s Africa and there are some wonderful scenes of animals in the wild. [Streaming on several sites (click here; $4)]
The film stars Robert Redford (as Denys Finch-Hatten) and Meryl Streep (as Karen Blixen). It is loosely based on Blixen’s 1937 autobiography (also titled Out of Africa) of her time in Kenya (1913-1931).
Below are several clips, and if you need to triage for your viewing time, go first to the airplane scene. It’s lovely and has the best wild animal shots.
Soundtrack (main theme with film clips). Composer John Barry deservedly won the Oscar for best score.
Shampoo Scene. After an intro from some hippos, the clip moves to Denys shampooing Karen’s hair while reciting The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.
Airplane Scene. Karen joins Denys on a flight in his biplane. They fly over the Massai Mara and the Rift Valley in Kenya and cross over to Tanzania for the Serengeti and Ngorongoro areas.
The flamingo shots in the Rift Valley are amazing. The warm lakes there have a mineral content that makes them rich in algae, a delicacy that flamingos consume and turns them pink. In 1989, Rita and I were at one of the lakes (Nakuru) and saw an estimated two million flamingos.
And don’t miss the handholding at the end of the clip.
“Africa” by Toto (1982). Bonus cut. This song references Kilimanjaro and the Serengeti in Tanzania.
Storytelling Scene. When Denys and his friend Berkely Cole visit Karen in her home, they become enchanted with her storytelling ability. Although she is not well traveled, she is well read and so is a “mental traveler” with a wide range of knowledge. She asks them for a first line to a potential story, and she turns it into a long story that starts at the dinner table and continues to the living room for after dinner drinks.
At the end of this clip, Denys gifts a pen to Karen to write down her stories. She must have done so because after she returned to Denmark, she became an acclaimed author with the pen name of Isak Dinesen. Her most famous book is of course Out of Africa.
Isak Dinesen and Joe Reres: Rita and I met Joe Reres in 1989, just before he married our good friend Barbara Westhoven. He was 69 at the time, and we enjoyed a close friendship for the next 27 years. He died in 2016 at the age of 96. He was a man of many interests, as evidenced by the subsections in my tribute to him (Writing, Movies, Books, Storytelling, Art, Music, God, War, Politics, Baseball and wife Barbara).
For this post, I’m going to Joe’s interest in storytelling. He admired Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen) and loved her idea of taking a first line that unwinds into a journey for the mental traveler. Just as Meryl Streep had done in the movie.
Joe decided he would do the same thing. He asked family and friends to provide him a first sentence or paragraph to inspire “a fanciful short story (fanciful, fantastic, farcical, fraudulent, foolish…whatever ‘F’ word you decide).” In his early 90s at the time, Joe wrote 28 short stories and assembled them in a book that he distributed to his first-sentence contributors.
Rita chose a first line that you all now know: “I love the smell of popcorn in the morning.”
In response, Joe wrote “A Sensual Fable” that added various sensual pleasures to go with Rita’s first sentence. “I love the smell of coffee in the morning…the taste of orange juice…the sound of my wife singing in the morning…the sight of sunbeams in the air…the feel of my wife when I hold her and kiss her.” Joe then weaves a tale of how he is a big game “hunter” who shoots with a camera, not a gun, to supplement his wife’s articles for National Geographic. He of course loves the smell of popcorn in the morning – one of nature’s most beautiful creatures must be nearby to be photographed.
This safari version of Joe sees a leopard befriend a dog from a nearby farm, leading to the lesson that peace and love can be found in many ways. The story ends with “Love is not one of the five senses. It combines them all.”
Joe, thank you!
Walk-Off Photos: Some of our favorite safari photos grace our Africa-themed guest bathroom.
