| Walking in the inky darkness to my glamping tent in somewhere Karongwe Private Game Reserve, a four-legged beast rushes in front of me. I tell myself it’s a leopard. More importantly, I tell myself there is absolutely zero chance it’s a leopard. I have a weak heart and my doctor recommends keeping my life-to-leopard ratio strictly in favour of Team Leopard. It’s close to midnight, the ideal time for a leopard to show its spots, literally. But I’m escorted by Leopard Security Guard in hand with giant flashlight, so I conjecture that since he’s ahead, he will get eaten first, while I will have time to…what? |
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Yes, I’ve recently upgraded my bucket list to my higher-priority-to-do list. This is the reason I jumped at the spontaneous opportunity to go on safari in South Africa. |
| Here I will warn you that my bucket list is a bit sad. Yes, I’ve been to the south of rural Spain wondering what on earth possessed me to sign up to meander forlornly alone, mostly lost, among olive groves for four months. Yes, I swam in the azure waters in Turks and Caicos – with i-Pod securely attached to said bathing suit. Yes, I’ve climbed the Chilkoot Pass, but left my water supply on the White Pass train. And yes, I’ve climbed the Petit Piton in St. Lucia, but sprained my ankle on the way down. |
| But that was all pre-pandemic. It’s a new day, and I can be a new me. So this new me liberally douses myself with mosquito repellent, plops on a slouchy hat, perches a pair of sunglasses on my nose, and smooths down my greige clothes. And you know how I feel about incomprehensible fashion decisions. Hakuna matata I climb up into the ‘middliest‘ seat in the jeep (as I’m not kidding about that weak heart), at the crack of dawn, ready for a long day of “African massage”. It’s not that I’m not adventurous (some would say too much so, or more accurately, poor decision-so) – I just prefer my sense of adventure channelled into something like a chocolate tasting or a blind date. And I will miss my bathtub. |
| Fortune favours the bold, though. Karongwe, as the dawn breaks, is breathtaking. The undulating terrain; bushveld with grass savannah, tough shrubs, riverine vegetation and rocky outcrops interrupted by sporadic purple flowers; the landscape changes on a dime. Dirt, the colour of pottery. |
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We head out as the burnished glory of the sun peeks out over the majesty of sleeping thorny acacias, supported with a quick cup of coffee and a tee shirt on backwards, anticipating the “Big Show”, envisioning the iconic picture of the one tree in the distance with a giraffe in silhouette. |
| We dream of herds of wildebeests off in the distance, the drama of black-maned lions stalking their prey, buffalo wandering to a waterhole, and wonder about the mating habits of Africian ants. |
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It doesn’t matter how many times you’ve seen Out of Africa or if you have always felt comfortable in dun coloured clothes, what is the most difficult to comprehend is that embarking on a safari is literally ecaping into another realm. The very first time moment you see Africian animals in the wild will be unforgettable. You are travelling into a world where the concert of nature’s elements envelopes your senses, where you are in the animal’s natural habitat taking a guest peek into their world, channelling the romantic allure of Blixen and Hemingway, sans Dr. Livingstone pith helmet. |
| Some animals rustle away as we drive pass, others don’t even acknowlege our presence and continue munching on whatever they were munching on, or go back to staring into the distance with more purpose than we can ever hope to perceive. |
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Nothing prepares you for the first time you are within 9 feet of a 500 pound lion in the wild – the king of the African savanna with retractable claws and powerful haunches any weight lifter would envy, the only thing between us, a few tins of jeep. But luckily he doesn’t care about us, he’s snoozing, and besides a Land Rover doesn’t offer much sustenance unless you’re wearing a red jacket and jump out to get that Kodak moment. Don’t do that. |
| Notihng prepares you for the splintering crack of 25-foot tree as Daddy Elephant single-trunkedly takes it down for lunch. |
| And nothing prepares you when your Guide abruptly stops the jeep, instructing us to walk into the bush silently in single file, and then stopping us short where three cheetahs lay camoflaged in the grass! Nervous awe, to say the least. |
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There is a world of difference coming up close to a wandering herd of elephants, observing a duo of hippos submerged in a murky watering hole, watching a lion sense her ‘McDonalds’ fast food impala breakfast, sighting a white-striped and spiral-horned kudu behind some trees, to sipping wine while watching various Attenborough-esque documentaries in zebra-striped slippers. |
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We had our rules: don’t make a lot of noise, keep arms and cameras inside the jeep, and never get between a hippo and the water, as they are the most dangerous African animals after mosquitoes. |
| Magical experiences of unpredictability and amazement unfolded every day. From the spectacle of how elephants shake their grass before they eat, seeing a baboon baring its bone-breaking incisors, impalas and warthogs strolling through camp, zebras whose tails had been biten off in a fight over females, and a tiny beetle that doesn’t drink or eat anything except dung. |
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Yes, I have now seen the real Circle of Life for myself. Magical, exhilarating and life changing. |
Lions, Leopards and Luxury Lodges
December 13, 2022 by
Wow! Is all I can say Karyn.
I am in awe reading about your adventure & seeing your pictures. Bonnie
Incredible! – Sharon Butala
Wow Karyn! How are you ever going to be able to go back to ‘real life’?!!
Kind regards,
Susan Hubele
Karyn! You have captured the feeling of awe that I enjoyed while on safari! Thank you for your witty and eloquent walk down memory lane!