During our time on safari we visited 3 countries (Zimbabwe, Zambia and Botswana) and stayed in 4 different camps. Each day included game drives; either one in the morning and another in the afternoon (with a break of several hours in between) or one long drive that lasted most of the day. We’d start out early (sometimes as early as 5:30 or 6:00) for breakfast, and then we’d pile in our trucks for the drive. The times are dictated of course by when the animals are out doing stuff (usually hunting or trying to avoid being hunted); most of the time in the middle of the day is Critter Siesta time.
Bush taxi
Our conveyance was an open pickup truck (usually a Land Rover or similar—amazingly tough vehicles!) with three tiered rows of seats behind the driver’s seat. There was a heavy frame around the seats, with a sturdy canvas roof, but the sides were all open. When we were watching the animals it would have been trivially easy for an elephant to reach in and grab a passenger, or for that matter for a lion to jump into the truck with us. Our guides told us to stay seated, not put our feet our arms outside the side of the passenger compartment or make any sudden movements, as the animals had gotten used to the profile of these vehicles and ignored them (and us, all soft and juicy, just a few feet away from them!) as along as the profile didn’t change. Not standing or waving our arms around apparently didn’t change the profile of the truck enough to alert the animals. They absolutely were aware of us, but amazingly, they totally ignored us even though we were only a few feet away, sometimes even making a huge racket as we crashed through the underbrush in pursuit of a close-up.
Nice kitty…
The thing that struck both Cathy and me is how different it is to be out in the bush where the animals are in their natural habitat, vs walking past them in a zoo. It becomes clear very quickly that the rules have changed. We are the ones out of our element; the animals don’t depend on us for anything except to be left alone.
And sitting in those open trucks sometimes less than 10 feet from a big damn carnivore with pointy bits everywhere, we very much also wanted to be left alone.
