THERE IS NOTHING QUITE LIKE BEING ON A SAFARI
There is nothing quite like going on safari. Enjoy an African safari in KwaZulu-Natal, with early morning wake-up calls followed by coffee and rusks before jumping aboard the game vehicle with blankets and hot water bottles covering your lap. The bite of the morning wind as the land cruiser navigates its way slowly down dirt tracks. The screech of a crested francolin or the whoop of a hyena. Watching the sun break over the horizon while mist rises off the valley floor before slowly dissipating away. The rush of your tracker urgently requesting the vehicle to stop, fresh lion tracks on the road a precursor to an increase in one’s heart rate. Peering into the bush and imagining a leopard on every decent-sized tree, and then failing to spot the giraffe standing five metres to the right. Trying to get your camera to focus in search of the perfect shot. Meeting other people with who you may never have otherwise associated, but soon chatting away and sharing a common love for the bush. Then more rusks and coffee, with a splash of Amarula, before returning to the camp for rest and recuperation.
FOOD, THEN THERE’S MORE FOOD
Food. Then more food. Afternoon game drive with the golden hour providing fantastic photographic opportunities, before the sun begins its slow descent in the west. The sudden onset of dark, with spotlights arcing from left to right and back. Venus, the evening star (although it is a planet), winking down at you and the milky way drawing the eye to infinite possibilities of what could be out there. Are we alone or is someone or something looking back? The red glow of a fiery-necked nightjar’s eyes while scrub hares run in front of the vehicle looking neither left nor right. The return to camp, with a friendly host welcoming you with a warm facecloth to wash away the dust. Food. Wine. Dessert. Drinks around the roaring fire, while Johnny Clegg and Savuka serenade about the Scatterlings of Africa. Roasting marshmallows over an open fire while lions roar, their sound carrying for up to eight kilometres.
For me, escaping to the bush is a chance to switch off from the daily grind of traffic, social media and go go go. A chance to just take it easy for a change and don’t just look but actually see. Too often in town, it is all too common to take the flight of a Woolly-necked stork overhead for granted or to curse at vervet monkeys that have the audacity to raid the kitchen pantry. But in the bush, with a guide and a tracker on hand, one gets the opportunity to really appreciate what an amazing world we live in. And then there is the food. Glorious, copious, delectable food. Going on safari – food for the soul as well as the body!
Love from Thanda Safari
