Afrikanisches Safari-Erlebnis – Wie funktioniert das?

So how does a safari work? You get into an open-top vehicle without windows or a roof and are driven through the wild forests or national parks. When animals appear along the way, the guide shuts down the engine to allow you to observe them in their natural environment. It sounds quite dangerous, especially when you approach an elephant that starts trumpeting and charging towards you, or when you sit next to a lion just a few meters away with no trainer in sight. It is believed that predators don’t regard the car as potential prey, so as long as you stay quiet and do not stick your head out of the vehicle, everything will be fine. Of course, the safari organizers guarantee complete safety, but judging by our experiences swimming near the Victoria Falls or flying over the canyon in a helicopter, it seems that Africans have a rather relative concept of safety...

After the boat safari, we continued on to Botswana. We drove for six hours from the Zambia border. Along the way, there were small stops where we could get out and “go into the bushes” – or, in African terms, “into the baobab trees”.

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

The scarcity of vegetation is even more evident during the dry season, when all the trees lose their leaves. But 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 because they live deep inside their nests. The guide told us that lions and other predators often hunt on these termite mounds: they climb onto the hard ridges and lookout from there for their prey.

Typical landscapes of Botswana...

Eight people participated in this safari, and we rode 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 many ways, the guide was essential – including for ensuring our safety. For example, if you accidentally placed the car between an elephant and its calf, you would surely attract the elephant’s attention and provoke an attack.

We went on safaris twice a day during this trip: once at dawn and once before sunset. These were the times when animals were most active – predators were hunting, herbivores were eating and trying to avoid being eaten. During the day, it got too hot, so the animals rested in the shade of the sparse trees.

There were prepared roads through the forest that we used to search for animals.

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

Elephants were by far the most troublesome animals during this safari. First, there were a huge number of them; second, African elephants are not as friendly and docile as Asian elephants. They are much more aggressive and always display clear hostility towards the vehicle.

Since elephants can’t tell the difference between a road and a forest, we often ended up running into them. We had to stop and wait for them to move on. They looked at us with disapproval and sometimes even tried to charge at us. An elephant attacks by first shaking its ears violently, snorting, trumpeting, and swinging its head back and forth – all signs of an impending attack. You can’t approach it under such circumstances; a collision is inevitable. But you also can’t drive away quickly, because the elephant will chase you. And, as I already mentioned, it can run quite fast. We sometimes had to respond by starting the engine suddenly, which started the vehicle moving and scared the elephant away.

Leopards, on the other hand, were not scary at all. You could get quite close to them. Sometimes they would give us puzzled looks, but that was usually all.

In Botswana, we stayed in tents pitched on the edge of the forest. There were no fences around them, so all night long, we could hear all sorts of sounds: grunts, roars, screams, and footsteps. 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. During our trip, we were scheduled to stay in three different camps, moving between them by plane. To be honest, six out of the eight of us decided to leave the first camp without waiting to see the other two.

Our tents were quite simple: they consisted of two beds with bedding. There was a compartment behind the back wall that could be accessed through a zipper. There were basic facilities inside: a shower, a toilet, and a bucket with water.

On the right was a shower; on the left, a toilet – it was actually a simple bucket with a hole in the bottom. On we spent two nights there, but almost no one slept. We were all too busy listening to the strange noises around us. Arina even kept nail clippers within reach, in case we needed to use them to defend ourselves against lions.

We stayed in total darkness at night to avoid attracting animals. In the morning, we found traces of hyenas, buffaloes, and leopards near our tents. The next day, we thanked our guides and said we had had enough experiences already, so we booked a flight back to South Africa...

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

The narrow strips of land that looked like cracks in dry soil were actually animal trails leading to dried-up water sources.

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

In the last three days of our trip, we rejoined the other brave fellows who had stayed in Botswana and went on another safari in the Kruger National Park, a protected area on the border with Mozambique. We got there by plane, and, to be honest, most of our travels across Africa were actually done by air. Small aircraft are very common in the 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 were no fences around them, the walls and windows provided a sense of security. This was the bedroom:

The bathroom. Outside, you could see showers and a private pool.

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

In this camp, we had a ranger with a gun and a local tracker who would sit on the roof of the car and look for animal traces.

As soon as they found any tracks, they would leave the vehicle and head into the forest, leaving us alone for around 15 minutes at a time.

These were the trails left by leopards.

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

Sometimes we had to cut through the bushes with machetes in order to get closer to the animals.

Once, while chasing a lion, we drove straight into a rock. Another vehicle came along and helped us get back on the road.

The landscape in South Africa was different from what we had seen in Botswana. Here we could see all the typical African animals: elephants, rhinos, buffaloes, lions, and leopards.

Here we even encountered a young lion that had crossed into someone else’s territory and was being chased by three adult males. The young lion was already badly injured and scratched up all over. It ran ahead, while the three males followed closely behind.

One evening, we enjoyed a “royal treat” – a sudden glimpse of civilization and African hospitality. We were served gin and tonic, which is said to be an effective remedy against malaria.

Stay Tuned!