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CHOOSING YOUR AFRICAN SAFARI


Africa offers many distinctive safari experiences, from the open savannahs of Kenya and Tanzania, to the wetlands of the Okavango Delta and the jungles of Uganda. Add to this the remote wilderness of Zambia and the Namib Desert, the private game reserves of South Africa and a range of incredible camps and lodges and you have a full range of spectacular game viewing experiences.


DIARY OF AN AFRICAN SAFARI by Trevor Gibbs (Travel Writer)


Dawn broke across the African plains and as I lay there, listening to the plaintive roar of a solitary lion, I gazed out from my luxurious safari tent, across an African landscape that was bathed in the golden glows of the early morning. I had been in Africa for a week now and each new day never failed to instil a childish excitement in me. Africa is many things to many people – wild, dramatic, beautiful, serene, but always enchanting.


Our days had taken on a wonderfully regular routine. Each began with an early start and a morning game drive, to make the most of the cool of the day, when the animals were likely to be at their most exuberant. This was followed by breakfast and a morning spent relaxing and swimming, or simply basking in the glorious ambience of the setting. After lunch we then enjoyed a late afternoon game drive, which in its turn preceded a very civilised itinerary of sundowners and dinner. It was all so incredibly unhurried and reminiscent of a more gentle age of exploration.


I joined my fellow travellers for our early morning coffee, watching a herd of impala gather at the local watering hole, their need for a morning pick me up seeming to mirror my own. As we boarded our 4WD safari vehicle in the early chill of morning, the excitement amongst us was almost palpable.


Mornings always brought the promise of a hunt and the chance to encounter the ‘Big Five’ (lion, leopard, elephant, rhino and buffalo) and, as we drove out towards the rising sun, the impala turned to watch us disappear across the dusty plains, towards the unfolding drama that is Africa.


Over the past days we had been blessed with some truly incredible encounters. We had watched zebra and wildebeest in their thousands begin the long migration and sat transfixed as a pride of lions had passed within feet of our vehicle. Each day in Africa was a new and breathless experience and today was to prove no exception. Our guide, Joshua, spotted something, we approached and realised that it was a leopard with a recent kill. She was carrying it back to a nearby tree and, as we watched, she sprang effortlessly into the branches to enjoy her meal.


The child in me was satisfied again. I turned to Joshua and gave him an impossibly wide grin. I knew that the days ahead promised more of the same, with river safaris, campfires, and delicious cuisine all playing their part to ensure that this magnificent adventure would stay with me long after the African dawn had been replaced by a suburban sunrise. The leopard stared at us with a lazy, unhurried gaze. We stared back in awestruck wonder. Africa is a land of richness and diversity, ranging from the dramatic to the sublime. But on that African plain, in the golden light of a wakening dawn, this was my Africa.


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It’s our experience that makes yours


AFRICA


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