For those of you who have seen The Lion King, Madagascar, or any other fictitious movies that have given you an image of Africa as a wide open space with animals roaming around as they please, I would just like to clarify that this illustration is not an accurate representation of the Africa that I have been living in for the past month and a half. Residing in a fairly Westernized city, I do not have the privilege of seeing lions, zebras, giraffes, and elephants as I walk to school everyday. I have seen the occasional baboon or zebra on my way around town, but it would be misleading for me to say that I am walking around in nothing but a loincloth with Tarzan and Jane. However, this weekend my program took the group us to a place that was a bit more closely related to the land ruled by Simba and Mufasa in my favorite Disney classic. We had the pleasure of spending the weekend at the Aquila Game Reserve, where we were given the chance to see many of Africa’s most popular animals up close and personal.
When we arrived at Aquila, we were given our assigned roommates and allowed time to get ourselves situated in our private chalets. This lodge was unlike anywhere I had ever stayed, with its hut-like appeal and each room having an outdoor shower. To be honest, our room was quite romantic as the stone fireplace and dim lighting would have provided a perfect setting for a honeymoon couple. Too bad I was with my friend Courtney and not some handsome South African man (much to my mother’s disappointment, I am sure). After everyone was settled in, we loaded the trucks in preparation for the evening game drive across the reserve. Before we took off, our driver took time to discuss the dos and don’ts of the safari and told us that when around the animals we had to be sure to keep all body parts inside the vehicle and keep our voices down, especially around the hungry lions. How about that for an introduction?
The first animals that we spotted were the springbok, a small deer-like animal that is abundant in South Africa. On any other day I feel as though I would find these animals intriguing, however I had little interest in seeing these cute little creatures. I wanted the big guys. This was just a warm-up. Soon after the springbok, as our warm-up continued, we stopped by the wilder beasts who, much to their misfortune, might possibly be the ugliest animals I have ever seen. Of course, they might be thinking the same thing about me, so I guess I shouldn’t judge.
Just as I began to lose hope that we would see anything truly amazing (because the driver also made sure to tell us that no animal sighting is guaranteed), I heard someone across the truck gasp. When we all looked to see what had provoked this sudden shortage of breath, our jaws all joined hers below the bus, dropping as low as the tires. Walking behind the wilder beasts in the distance was a tall, beautiful giraffe. Now I have seen giraffes at the zoo before, but something about seeing this creature out on its own, just sauntering around in the grass, added a whole new element. We shrieked in excitement at our first spotting of an animal high on our lists of things to see, and crossed our fingers that she would come close enough for us to really marvel at her beauty. Luckily, our wishes were granted as the young female giraffe came within 5 feet of our vehicle. It reminded me of a model walking down the catwalk as her long legs strolled by all of the flashing cameras with such poise. The giraffe didn’t stay for long, perhaps she and her long legs and long lashes had more important people to impress, but we were able to see her for just long enough to get catch some jaw-dropping pictures.
After we left the giraffe, we moved on to the elephants. These guys were amazing and walked right on by our truck, but I will save my elephant stories for a later time in this post. On our way to see the next member of Africa’s Big 5 we passed by a number of zebras grazing in the grass close by. The zebras were gorgeous with their vibrant stripes of black and white. I know that I have a few zebra-print lovers following this post and let me tell you, seeing them in person makes the pattern that much more beautiful. However, the zebra could barely compare to the animals that were next to cross our path. As we approached a big, bare patch of land, we could spot a number of large grey creatures, but could not yet determine what exactly they were. Once we got closer, we recognized the shapes as those belonging to the ever so intriguing rhino. Right before our eyes were a large handful of full-growns accompanied by one baby rhino. The baby ran around our truck and skipped between all of the adult rhinos. To be honest, these creatures were pretty darn ugly, but it was so incredible to see them up close and personal. I had always seen pictures of their long, threatening horns, but to have them right in front of you, able to attack at any time was truly something else.
Once we were able to part ways with the baby rhino that seemed to find a place in many passengers’ hearts, we proceeded to the area in which the lions lived. Talk about entering the lion’s den…we were all a bit hesitant as the driver reiterated the precautions that we were to take. Upon entering the area, we were bombarded with female lionesses, which are ironically considered the more dangerous of the two sexes of this species. They literally came right up to our truck and let out a few growls. The men soon followed their counterparts and before we knew it, we had a good 6 or 7 lions walking within a few feet of our vehicle. The male lions were truly a sight to see with their beautiful manes catching the eyes of each and every tourist. Because the passengers in our truck were particularly well-behaved, the lions acknowledged us but did not take interest in having us for dinner. The other truck did not prove to be as lucky.
Once the lions passed by our truck, we saw them move on to the next group of tourists and for quite a while it seemed as though some of us would be without a roommate for the night. Before their truck could get a good position away from the lions, they were surrounded by numerous angry lionesses who looked as though they would be providing a show that had not been a part of the printed itinerary. When the truck tried to slowly pull away, the group of lions followed close by snarling at our frightened friends. Our truck found great entertainment out of this situation as we started voting our classmates “off the island” and betting who would be first to be eaten. We concluded that if our companions happened to be eaten, we would sell the video to National Geographic for a large sum and split it among the passengers of our truck. While this appears to be a selfish act, we justified it by the fact that this would be a way for our friends to be remembered and help teach a lesson to future safari goers. In the end, they were able to make it out alive and unscathed, although not as a result of our help as we fled the scene to move on to the next stage of the safari.
After stopping briefly to watch the hippos leave the water and cross right in front of our vehicle, we completed the safari and returned to the lodge of an all-you-can-eat buffet and a late-night swim. We surrounded ourselves around a fire pit and I listened as a group of my slightly more talented friends sang a number of songs until we were finally ready for sleep.
The next morning, I got up to take set off for a quad safari around the same park as the night before. I was able to sign up for this activity despite the fact that there were only 5 quads, because I did so in a timely fashion. We were first introduced to the quads and given a chance to ride around the parking lot to practice driving the unfamiliar vehicles. I knew that I had to step up my game because I was grouped with one other girl and three boys (who everyone calls “the bros”). The boys were clearly very experienced in quad riding as they were cruising around from the minute our guide let us loose. We were taken on a safari through the same park, but on a different route than that of the previous night. We got to see most of the same animals and ride around at a pretty high speed, ripping through the dirt path and the sand. This type of safari was totally my element as we were in control of where we went and it was such an adventure. The highlight of this weekend by far came when we reached the elephants. Like the night before, they came right up to our vehicles. For a couple minutes, we even got off our quads to pet the elephants. It was so cool to be able to stand right up against them and touch their rough, wrinkly skin. You don’t realize how gigantic they really are until your standing on foot alongside one. We were able to snag a few pictures up really close, but when we tried to snap a shot of us petting them, they got a bit frantic and walked away.
After getting to see the elephants, we were taken to a bare spot in the middle of the park where we stopped for a few snacks and some sparkling wine. We just sat on our quads and marveled at our surroundings as we saw a giraffe walking by, a good 30 feet away. Upon returning to the lodge, we were once again treated with an all-you-can-eat buffet and a leisurely swim before we had to board the bus to go home. This weekend ranks high in the number of great things that I have done in South Africa and I cannot wait for more like it to come along.
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