The Big 4.5 - and life on safari

You might wanna break out the Lion King soundtrack for this post.

So, as you know, we are bigtime animal junkies.  Throw an animal - any animal - our way and get ready for a luv fest.  Our love of animals was the driving force behind this vacation.  And boy oh boy did we see some biggies.

 

In South Africa, the "Big Five" safari animals are:
*Cape Buffalo
*Lion
*Leopard
*Elephant
*Rhino

We asked our guide who decided that these, of all the animals, are the Big Five?  I mean, why not hippos?  Giraffes?  He said that the British hunters, back in the day, coined this term for the five toughest game animals to (1) hunt, and (2) try to deal with when they are angry or otherwise perturbed - as a result of say, being hunted (?!?!)...?

So, of these, we consider ourselves to have fully seen and experienced a whopping four-and-a-half.  After several days of tracking a leopard - and let me tell you, they are elusive - we did manage to hang out with one and stare at her rump for about half an hour.

Here are some of our best shots of our 4.5:

Of all of our experiences on this vacation, the highlight was our four-day stay at a safari camp located on a private game reserve next to Kruger National Park.  We wanted to give you a "Day in the Life" description of a typical safari day.

A Typical Day on Safari

5:00 A.M.     Wake Up

5:00 A.M. in the safari camp

5:30 A.M.     Tea & Coffee

The dining lodge where all of our meals were served

6:00 A.M.     Morning Game drive

The bush

9:00 A.M.     Back from game drive - Breakfast

Dining and drinks lodge

10:00 A.M. - 3:00 P.M.     Do your own thing and grab lunch

3:30 P.M.     Afternoon Refreshments

4:00 P.M.     Afternoon Game Drive

Our game tracker, on the front of the truck, was Moshi.  Our ranger, in the foreground of the pic, was Richard.

8:00 P.M.     Dinner

Richard ate with us every night and entertained us with stories and lots of African info.

The game drives occur early in the morning and late in the afternoon because that is when the animals are active.  In the mid-day hours, when the sun is highest and the temperature soars, the animals take refuge in the bush and conserve their energy.

While the animals were definitely wild, they were also used to the vehicles.  We were very surprised that the noise of the engines did not seem to faze them whatsoever.  Richard said that from birth, these animals are used to the vehicles and the people; they have grown to understand that neither will bother them, get in their way, intrude upon their space, or interrupt anything that they set out to do.  There were times when we were in the middle of elephant herds (~40 elephants) and they would practically rub up against our truck.  We were instructed to stay still and silent.  We didn't mess with them, and they didn't mess with us.  The same with the lions; they continued to sleep or play even though we were about 5 feet from them.  Every now and then they would glance at us and yawn, or perhaps flick their ears a bit.

When seated in the truck, the people blend in and form a coherent silhouette for the animals.  Therefore, we were told never to stand up.  If a person were to suddenly stand up, it would change the shape of the overall silhouette and either spook or provoke the animals.  Needless to say, we were Butt-in-Seat the entire time.

We had our own tracker and ranger for the duration of our safari stay.  This helped us get used to the same people and their game drive & tracking styles.  We were incredibly lucky because Richard had been leading game drives for almost a decade.  He was incredibly attuned to the animals and could predict their actions in advance.  One morning we watched a herd of elephants for a long time and he said that he wanted to just go wait at a close-by water hole.  He said he had a feeling they might go there.  We went and parked in a prime photo spot, and sure enough, about ten minutes later the water was full of the herd.  It was also clear that he truly respected the animals and nature.  Regardless of whether we were looking at baby elephants, bathing hippos, or ancient cape buffalo munching on wild grass and glaring at us, he would utter the same thing:  "Oh, would you look at that!  Beautiful, isn't it?  Just beautiful.  Have you ever seen anything like it in your life?"  And we would be like, "Yes, it sure is lovely, Richard..."

So there you go.  We hope you are adequately prepared for your next safari!