非洲狩猎之旅。这是如何进行的

How a safari works is as follows: you get into an open-top vehicle without windows or a roof, and then you are taken through the wild forests or national parks. When animals appear along the way, the guide turns off the engine so that you can observe them in their natural environment. It sounds quite dangerous, especially when approaching an elephant that starts roaring and charging towards you, or when sitting next to a lion just a few meters away with no trainer in sight. It is believed that predators don’t consider the vehicle as potential prey, so as long as you stay quiet and do not stick your head out of the car, everything will be fine. Of course, the organizers of the safari guarantee safety, but judging by our experiences swimming near the Victoria Falls or flying through a canyon in a helicopter, it seems that the concept of “safety” in Africa is rather relative...

After the boat safari, we headed deeper into Botswana. It took us six hours to drive from the border with Zambia. Along the way, there were small stops where we could get out and “stroll through the bushes”… or, in African terms, “under the baobab trees”.

Then we entered the forest and drove through it for another two hours. The African forest is a rather sparse and dull sight – with scattered trees, some yellow grass, and a few shrubs.

The openness of the forest is even more noticeable during the dry season, when all the trees lose their leaves. However, October was specifically chosen for this trip because the bare branches make it easier to spot animals.

There are many termite mounds in the forest.

We never saw the termites themselves, as they live deep inside their nests. The guide told us that lions and other predators often climb onto these mounds to lookout for their prey from a high vantage point.

Typical landscapes of Botswana...

Eight of us participated in this safari, riding in a vehicle like this. You could only get out of it after the guide had examined the area and given the go-ahead. In fact, a lot depended on the guide – including our safety. For example, if you accidentally blocked the path between an elephant and its calf, the elephant would surely knock over the car and trample it underfoot...

We went on safaris twice a day: once at dawn and once before sunset. During these times, animals are most active – predators hunt, herbivores feed, and try to avoid being caught... During the day, it gets extremely hot, so the animals rest quietly in the shade of the sparse bushes. We also tried to sleep during these periods, but it was almost impossible to do so at temperatures of +40 degrees Celsius...

There were established roads in the forest that we used to search for animals.

Whenever we spotted an animal, the guide would turn off the engine. We then had time to observe and take pictures. Since we were in a regular forest, not a national park, we could get out of the car and follow the tracks of lions or leopards through the bushes. Often, the guide would drive us through dense undergrowth to get closer to the animals...

The most troublesome animals were undoubtedly the elephants. First of all, there were countless of them; secondly, African elephants are not as friendly and docile as Asian elephants. They are very aggressive and always display clear hostility towards vehicles...

Since elephants can’t distinguish between a road and a forest, we often ended up running into them. We had to stop and wait for them to move on. The elephants looked at us with disapproval, and in some cases, they even tried to charge at us. When an elephant attacks, it first starts beating its ears vigorously, snorting, roaring, and shaking its head as a warning. You can’t just ignore it – a collision is inevitable – but you also can’t drive away quickly, because the elephant will chase you. And, as I already mentioned, elephants are fast runners... We had to respond by starting the engine loudly, which scared them and made them back off...

Leopards, on the other hand, were not scary at all; we could get quite close to them. Sometimes they would give us puzzled looks, but usually that was all... (See the photo for proof.)

In Botswana, we were accommodated in tents set up on the edge of the forest. There was no fence around them at all, so all night long, we could hear various sounds – grunts, roars, screams, footsteps, and rustling... The guides also warned us that it was dangerous to leave the tents at night; if someone really needed to go out, they had to blow a whistle to call for help. According to our itinerary, we were supposed to stay in three different camps in Botswana and travel between them by plane. To be honest, six out of the eight of us decided to leave the first camp without waiting to visit the other two...

Our simple tents consisted of two beds with bedding. Through a zipper in the back wall, you could enter a small annex where the bathroom facilities were located.

On the right was a shower facility with a bucket of water; on the left was a toilet made from a metal box. We spent two nights in this camp, but almost no one slept properly – everyone was too focused on listening to the strange noises around us. Arina even kept nail clippers within reach, just in case we encountered leopards... It’s worth mentioning that we stayed in complete darkness at night to avoid attracting animals. In the morning, we found traces of hyenas, hippos, and leopards near our tents. On the second day, we thanked our guides and decided it was time to take a plane back to South Africa...

From the air, we got another chance to look at the African forest...

The narrow strips on the ground, resembling cracks in dry soil, are actually animal trails leading to dried-up water sources.

And this is a city in Botswana from where we flew back to South Africa...

During the last three days of our trip, we reunited with the other brave guys who had stayed in Botswana and went on another safari in the Kruger National Park, located on the border with Mozambique. We flew there by plane, and, to be honest, most of the travel around Africa is done by air. The aviation industry is very developed in this country. The plane we took was small, with only six seats...

But since there were seven of us, I got to sit in the pilot’s cabin...

The conditions in the last camp were completely different. We stayed in small houses, and although there was no fence around the camp, the walls and windows gave us a sense of security. This is the bedroom...

The bathroom. Outside, you can see the shower and a small swimming pool...

There’s also a work area with a view of the forest. And, most importantly, the house was equipped with an air conditioner...

In the previous camp, we drove in a vehicle without a roof, but in this last camp, we had a ranger with a rifle and a local tracker who would sit on the hood of the car and look for animal tracks...

As soon as they found a track, both the ranger and the tracker would get out of the car and head into the forest, leaving us alone for fifteen minutes at a time...

The track of a leopard...

Animals are basically the same everywhere, but during this safari, observing them was much more comfortable...

Sometimes, just like in Botswana, we had to cut through the bushes. The ranger would take out a machete and clear a path for us...

Once, while chasing a lion, we hit a rock. Another car happened to be nearby and helped us get back on the road...

The landscape in South Africa was different from what we had seen in Botswana...

Here, we saw all the typical African animals: elephants, rhinos, buffaloes, lions, and leopards...

Once, we were even allowed to get out of the car, going against all safety rules, just to get a closer look at the hippos...

And this was a chase involving a young lion. It had entered someone else’s territory, so three adult male lions decided to kill it. The young lion was already badly injured and covered in scratches; it ran first, followed by the three adult lions, and then we in the car...

One evening, we enjoyed a “luxury feast amidst the bushes” – a sudden glimpse of civilization and African hospitality. A mandatory part of this “feast” was gin and tonic, which, according to legend, is supposed to be an effective remedy against malaria...

Stay tuned!