How to ensure an unique African Safari
experience
Your first African safari – or second,
or third – can be a life-changing experience. Coming from
media-dominated Europe or North America, the remote and untrammelled African
bush possesses a thrillingly timeless and offline quality. Nothing
personifies this more perhaps than the larger-than-life presence of the awesome
Big Five: lion, leopard, buffalo, elephant and rhinoceros. But a holistic
safari package might also embrace everything from encounters with the
continent’s diverse people to goggling at its colourful birds and inspirational
night skies.
According to Safari Bookings’ top ten tips are:
1.
Take a Walking Safari
Take
a walking safari. Not every African safari destination offers guided
walks, but where they are available, seize the opportunity. Walking in the bush
is a far more involving experience than a game drive. It lends a definite edge
to any wildlife encounter, allowing you to be far more conscious of the sounds,
smells and textures of the African bush (such as animal tracks and spider
webs).
2. Carry binoculars
Carry binoculars. Binoculars give
intimate views of distant wildlife and the dazzling array of rollers, parrots,
bee-eaters and other colorful birds that inhabit most African safari
destinations. Looking at the pristine night sky through even the most basic
binoculars can also be a genuine revelation, revealing thousands of stars
invisible to the naked eye.
3. Meet the locals
Those wildlife lodges and camps set in
Masai, Himba, Samburu and other traditional areas usually offer formal
community visits to their clients. But bear in mind that for a less stereotyped
take on 21st century Africa, it can be just as revealing to chat informally to
waiters, guides and other lodge staff.
4. Dress the part
Dress
the part. No need to spend a fortune on a clichéd all-khaki African
safari uniform. But try to dress sensibly – plenty of muted colors, light and
easily washed materials and something to cover up with on those (often
surprisingly chilly) evenings around the fire. A good hat and sunscreen to
avoid burning up on long game drives is also sensible.
5. Set aside the camera
Set aside the camera. For many, a camera is
probably the single most important African safari accessory. It would indeed be
a shame to return home without having captured your best sightings for
posterity. All the same, resist the temptation to treat your safari as one long
photo-shoot, and you might find yourself relaxing more, and allowing the
experience to imprint on your memory as well as the camera.
6. Be a fly-on-the-wall at a local market
Be a fly-on-the-wall at a local
market. The colorful weekly markets held in most African villages
remain the lifeblood of the local culture and economy. Subsistence farmers walk
or cycle in from miles around to sell fresh produce, and to buy manufactured
goods such as soap, candles and clothes. They also meet up with family and
friends, and catch up on all the latest news and gossip.
7. Get up early
Adapt to a new daily routine. Most
predator, bird and other wildlife activity peaks during the hour after sunrise
and the hour before sunset. For this reason, it’s conventional to start the
safari day with a pre-dawn coffee, then head out on an early morning game
drive. You will then return to camp for a leisurely brunch or early lunch and
an afternoon siesta, before heading back out into the bush in the late
afternoon.
8. Don’t obsess on the Big Five
Don't obsess on the big
five. There’s so much more to an African safari than chasing around
in search of the fabled quintet. Enjoy every wildlife sighting and encounter on
its own terms, and take the attitude that whatever you spot this time is a
great pretext for another safari a year or two down the line. Or challenge
yourself trying to locate the more elusive Little
Five!
9. Sample the local cuisine
Africa isn’t quite up with Asia when it
comes to world cuisines, but it has plenty to offer foodies. Chow down on
clove- and cinnamon-infused pilau of the coastal Swahili; the Malay-influenced
curries and bobotie of the Western Cape; deep-fried donut-like mandazi and
koeksisters; and flame-grilled meat known as braaivleis in southern and nyama
choma in eastern Africa.
10.Respect
the Wildlife
In most African safari reserves, animals
are very habituated to vehicles. That
doesn’t mean they’re tame. The lions that laze in front of your jeep
might well attack anybody fool enough to disembark in their presence, while the
likes of elephant, hippo, rhino and buffalo will bulldoze any pedestrian they
perceive as a threat. Never approach wildlife on foot except in the company of
a trustworthy local guide.