20 Descriptive Essay Topics on Life in Kenya Based on “A Primate’s Memoir”

When you are tasked with writing a descriptive essay on life in Kenya based on a book, you have to be selective about the topic you choose. It should be something the author wrote about, something that you can take as a single moment, a single activity, or a single day, and convey in vivid detail to the reader utilizing all of the five senses.

Below you will find a list of 20 topics for a descriptive essay on life in Kenya:

1. Concepts about Baboon Society that Overturn Common Misconceptions about Their Social Life.
2. Correlation between Each Stage of Development
3. Ascendancies of an Alpha Male in the Tribe
4. Significant Impact of the Masai
5. Effects of Chronic Stress on the Human and Animal Brain
6. How Social Behavior is Related to Stress Diseases
7. How Emotional Life is Related to Stress Diseases
8. How Social Rank is Related to Stress Diseases
9. Euphoria from Shooting a Baboon with an Anaesthetizing Dart
10. Recognition of Common Scams by the Poor-Ridden Africans upon American Visitors
11. Kindness and the Deceits of the Masai
12. Role Played by the Hypothalamus in the Brain
13. Short Term vs Long Term Stress of Living with an Alpha Male
14. Short Term vs Long Term Stress of Adolescents
15. Short Term vs Long Term Stress of Living with and Communicating with People You Don’t Know
16. Short Term vs Long Term Stress of Trying to Complete Studies without Close Friends or Family
17. Describe the Physiological Impact that Cortisol Has When You Are out Observing a Fight.
18. Pilgrimage to the Ruwenzoris
19. Mountains of the Moon or Mount Karisimbi
20. Odd Behavior Seen among Humans Compared to Baboons

These topics are all quite cool, aren’t they? Of course it is still helpful sometimes to have more than just a topic to guide you in your writing quest. In most cases students will find that they are more comfortable starting out on their writing endeavor if they know what specifically is expected of them. And here we also have what to suggest – 12 facts about life in Kenya based on Primate’s Memoir. That is why having a sample can help teach the structure, organization, and use of evidence or descriptions necessary for any writing piece. Below you will find an essay sample on one of the topics above:

An Extract from a Descriptive Essay on Life in Kenya based on “A Primate’s Memoir”

The wind shifted. With it came a fresh gust of red dirt blown up around my feet in swirling patterns devoid of life, and up my nostrils where the associated river stench from the village accosted me. But with the shift in the wind came new sounds. My head cocked so my left ear might gain better audio, the sound of a scream. Then another. Suddenly the lone female scream which tore at my ears like nails on a chalkboard was supported by a cacophony of male voices, each declaring that the elephants had come back. They ate our tents. They stood above them as a starved man waits above a buffet table gorging himself. Then there was only red dirt again. They removed our shields, our protection from the blazing heat that sears to the bone and from the wild animals that prey. It would be time to rebuild later.

Right now the perception of the threat triggered the stress response. I looked for the baby, held it close and whispered murmurs of assurance as I felt all non-essential body functions stop and all energy diverted to the brain and the muscles. My heart was beating faster. Blood was flowing to every tingling end of my body. The adrenal glands released adrenaline. The sugar in my body increased with the heart rate. I could feel my heart beating through my chest and held the baby close in an attempt to prevent it from escaping. With raised levels of cortisol I was ready to dash out of the way of the herd, my decision making skills seemingly the only mental function working as of late. My eye sight became razor sharp, cognizant of ever flutter or moving leaf. The wind which was previously tangy in scent but light in waves and pressure became a deep howl whose echo could be used to trace the movements. The ground vibrating beneath my feet indicated the strength with which the herd moved, the swiftness, and the force. The thumps grew in size, the vibrations swelled. My eyes caught sight of peripheral movement and I dove behind a tree as the group came rushing through the lands.

Then it was over. Calm was restored around the aftermath of the herd trampling through the land. The wind calmed in tune with my heart. The baby was looking at me with eyes bewildered, confused, and all at once accepting of and reflecting my face. My brow was furrowed; I noticed when I consciously smiled at the infant and felt it unfurrow. My lips were pressed firmly, the dry African heat parching them beyond recognition, and they cracked in release when I smiled at the baby. The child was incredibly sensitive to emotional expression and this sensitivity must be a crucial component for the development of stress and how the brain handles stress. My emotionally expressive influence taught in that moment, how the children should encode emotions.

References:

Baker, Jack, Allen Brizee, and Elizabeth Angeli. “Essay writing.” Retrieved April 25 (2013): 2014.
Crossley, Scott A., Laura K. Allen, and Danielle S. McNamara. “A Multi-Dimensional analysis of essay writing.” Multi-Dimensional Analysis, 25 years on: A tribute to Douglas Biber 60 (2014): 197.
McEwen, B. S. (2011, September). Effects of stress on the developing brain. In Cerebrum: the Dana forum on brain science (Vol. 2011). Dana Foundation.
Pennisi, Elizabeth. “Baboon watch.” Science 346.6207 (2014): 292-295.
Redman, Peter, and Wendy Maples. Good essay writing: a social sciences guide. Sage Publications, 2011.
Sapolsky, Robert M. A primate’s memoir: a neuroscientist’s unconventional life among the baboons. Simon and Schuster, 2007.
Szalay, Frederick S., and Eric Delson. Evolutionary history of the primates. Academic Press, 2013.