A Typical day on Safari
To go on a safari is an amazing experience, it is not something that you are likely to forget and once you experience your first safari, more often than not you will soon be planning your second trip. We often get asked, "What it is like to go on a safari?" Well… it all begins around sunrise.
Most of the lodges will have a wake up call just before sunrise as early as 05:00. It pays to wake up early as most of the animals are more active. You will meet your guide for morning coffee and he will chat to you about the plan for the day and what animals you want to look for. Before you leave make sure that you have your camera, binoculars, hats, and something warm to wear as it can be cool when you set out. The mornings are our favourites, the air is crisp, The birds are calling, and the sights and sounds seem more vivid.
As the sun comes up everything is bathed in lovely warm light which is perfect for photography. Some of the animals that are only active at night may still be moving around in the early hours of the day. Morning game drives are perfect times to search for the big cats like leopard and lion. Your guide will have a good scenes of where to start looking. Often they know where each leopard holds territory or where the lions were seen the previous day. As you drive through the bush, the tracker, who sits on the front of the vehicle, will be looking for tracks in the sands and roads left by the animals.
If he finds some fresh tracks he might decide to track it. Very often when you find the animals you are able to spend some time with them as they go about their day. Some of the safari camps are able to drive off the beaten track into the vegetation to ensure amazing sightings of the wildlife.
The morning game drives are generally about 3 hours long and during the game-drive you usually will stop somewhere in the bush for a coffee break and a leg stretch. By this time it will be starting to warm up and you will be stripping away the jackets from the early morning. After the coffee break and the game drive resumes. Your guide is in normally in radio communication with all the other guides and if there is something close by he will take you there. You end off your morning game drive back at camp for a lovely warm breakfast.
Often there is a waterhole that the camp will look out over so make sure that you keep an eye on it during the day for animals coming to drink. Some of the camps have got a spa so if you feel like treating yourself you can go and have a massage during the day. Most of the lodges serve lunch around midday after which you may choose to spend some more time at the pool, edit your photos from the morning safari, or have a siesta.
Afternoon tea is served before departing on the afternoon safari and will most often include some refreshing beverages, teas, coffees and cakes. Make sure that you again have your jacket for the afternoon game drive even if it is a hot day, you will usually return after darkness and in Africa when the sun goes down it is our experience that it cools off quickly.
Your guide will have the knowledge of what was seen where in that morning and you might head in that direction if you have not seen in yet, or wish to again. In our experience, if it is a really hot day the animals don't move very far from where they were seen in the morning. But once it starts cooling down they get more active again.
There is nothing more exhilarating than a male lion roaring at dusk!
Africa is truly special around the time the sun disappears over the horizon, and there is no better way to experience this than with a Sundowner. This is one last stop on the Game drive where you can just be in Awe of the sunset with a Gin & Tonic in hand. Listening to Africa coming alive, the hyena matriarch calling her clan together, if you are lucky a lion roaring and making his majestic presence known to all.
Once the sun has set the night drive starts again. Using spotlights it is easier to spot the more elusive nocturnal wildlife, such as Genets, Bushbabys and other smaller predators by the glowing their eyes. This can be truly rewarding.
The Game drive returns to camp well after dark.
You will have time to freshen up and return to the bar for a well deserved drink. Followed by a delicious meal prepared by top local chefs and enjoying all this surrounded by fires, good conversation and open star lit skies.