On a small four-seater helicopter we take off from Nairobi, heading southwest to the magnificent Ngong Hills. We fly low over the sparse bushes and houses on the outskirts of the city until we reach the crest of the hill just below us. Suddenly the ground below us disappears and my heart sinks with it. The magnificent Rift Valley opens up in front of us, with ridges and escarpments, canyons and wooded streams. We fly over giraffes, zebras, elands, maasai villages and the temperature rises as we head south. In the distance we start seeing dust devils rising from the plains and a lake wedged in between beautiful rocky cliffs. We reach the lake and fly over it, and the most magnificent caleidoscope of colors and abstract shapes spread out below us, streaks of color on the dark water, red and pink patterns under the water surface. And flocks of Greater and Lesser Flamingos flying above this magnificence.