Our Africa

My Africa was all about the safari experience! Our daily back to back game drives covered an enormous amount of ground, enabling us to see some of the most unique wildlife.

During my time in Kruger we were fortunate to see the Big 5 (Elephant, Rhino, Buffalo, Lion and Leopard) and the thrill of it all is: what are going to see next! The guides on safari go to all lengths to spot animals and wildlife and even will go off the beaten track into high shrub and trees just so you can get as close as possible to them.

"Elephant Whispers" was our elephant interaction experience where we had the opportunity to learn all about these gentle giants. The experienced elephant trainers explained everything we needed to know about them including examining them from the toughness of their skin to the shape of their ears to the detail on the back of their feet. We were also able to touch and feed them which really gave us an in depth look at how they interact with humans. What a wonderful experience!

But for something a little different (and for the more adventurous!), what about a sleep out in the middle of the African bush? This picture below is of a sleepout at a Luxury Lodge near Kruger Park. Are you game enough to sleep amongst the game...?! Contact me for more information!

My Africa, Where do I start?

I think one experience which I speak about often was when I was in Botswana at Linyanti Bush Camps. We had been out on our afternoon game drive and had seen elephants and giraffes just off in the bush. As we rounded a slight bend in the middle of the track there was a huge bull elephant. Our guide turned off the engines and we just watched and waited. Slowly our elephant came towards us swinging his trunk and grabbing some leaves along the way. We all just sat in silence as we know he couldn’t see us from that distance. He got closer and closer and finally he was almost at our vehicle. As he swung his trunk this time he sensed the 4WD and took a wider berth and slowly walked past us. He was that close we could have touched him.

The photo we have here was taken before he got too close I didn’t want to have a camera going off when he was too close. This was amazing than an animal this size looked so gentle and wasn’t fazed that we were there. It is a credit to the guides who live and work in this area they haven’t disturbed the animals so they are afraid of humans.

We were also lucky enough to come across a mother and baby rhino. Mum rhinos are normally pretty protective and our toddler was pretty inquisitive. He/she kept coming over to our vehicle and wanting to play hide and seek from mum but our guide kept moving so mum could keep bubs in full view. If she lost sight of the little one she could have charged us to find him and none of us wanted that. Just after this photo bubs headed back to mum and flopped down in the grass exhausted.

My Africa is dominated by lions! Laying in bed in my tent in the north of Botswana and listening to the roaring of lions. They sound like they are just down the road but maybe were as much as 10kms away. But in the morning there were the footprints of the big male who spent time on the sandy footpath behind my tent – he even laid down there for a bit of a rest.

Although I was excited to see this I admit I was glad I didn’t know he was there during the night. This was a very remote bush camp and the main rule is that after dark NO ONE walks around unless accompanied by one of the rangers. And the whistle is next to the bed if you need any assistance during the night (“but only if there is a lion on your bed”!). And then there was a mating pair which we came upon on an afternoon game drive, a very lucky bit of chance indeed! Next morning there were two lionesses who our ranger felt were about to hunt for their meal. We followed them to see what would happen and after two failed attempts (a kudu and a warthog had luck on their side) we watched them take their prey, a nyala. But most wonderful of all, on our afternoon game drive that day, we went back to the site where they hid their kill and found one of the lionesses and her three cubs. These little cubs were like clones from “The Lion King”, a couple of months old and as mischievous as Simba in the movie. Watching them was a wonderful experience that will stay with me forever.