How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
Trees grow up so quickly in Africa, in ten years' time you walk comfortably under tall blue gum trees, and wattle trees, which you have yourself, in the rain, carried in boxes from the nurseries, twelve trees in a box. (5.1.7)
Africa is made out to be the Miracle-Gro of continents in Blixen's description, where you can get rich quick (hey, "quick" is a relative term) by planting trees that will just shoot up and grow fully before a European tree could even cast a shadow.
Quote #8
The Kikuyus, when left to themselves, do not bury their dead, but leave them above ground for the Hyenas and vulture to deal with. The custom had always appealed to me, I thought that it would be a pleasant thing to be laid out to the sun and the stars, and to be so promptly, neatly and openly picked and cleansed; to be made one with Nature and become a common component of a landscape. (5.2.23)
We can't say we really dig the idea of our dead bodies being picked at by hyenas and vultures, but what the Baroness seems to be getting at is that she likes this idea of becoming one with nature that really only seems to be possible in Africa, where the Natives, in her view, are already part of nature. She wishes she could be a part of Africa, but her culture keeps her from the wild life.
Quote #9
Whenever I was ill in Africa, or much worried, I suffered from a special kind of compulsive idea. It seemed to me then that all my surroundings were in danger or distress, and that in the midst of this disaster I myself was somehow on the wrong side, and therefore was regarded with distrust and fear by everybody. (5.3.26)
The visions of Kenya also have a dark side for the Baroness. While the natural stuff is all beauty and happiness, her relationships with the actual people are not quite so easy, and anytime she has a moment of weakness, like illness or anxiety, she starts to see her environment as dangerous rather than magical.