I had known for a while that we were going to go on a three day safari. The whole reason I didn't want to go to on an African safari was because I thought we were going to be in the back of a truck with a rifle. That reason changed quickly. And almost as fast as we knew we'd be in a closed jeep. I also found out we were going to a camp site to lay in large tents. But that also changed, and we decided to get two rooms.
On our first day we drove for an hour to a national park where we would start. We lathered on bug spray and sunscreen and took off. At first we saw a few impalas, then monkeys. That pattern continued for a while. We saw the baby monkeys playing with their moms and playing in the water. It got much better when elephants started showing up. At first there was just a few in the distance and then we got caught in their path. We had to be very quiet to avoid our most likely gruesome slaughter. But, of course, everyone still laughed. After we got through the crowd we came to a few more. Those few quickly changed to dozens as more and more found the mud pool. We watched the babies stampede into the mud and the moms shove them out of the way. Freakishly there was one senior elephant standing behind us the whole time watching our car. Once again we had to be silent, and once again, everyone laughed. That was definitely the highlight of all three excursions.
We had to balance out this one good experience with an awful one, in the shape of a five inch giant black bee. He swooped in front of people's faces and forced me to hide and keep my head down while the driver tried to kill it with his hand. Eventually he left, and to make up for his absence a few dozen tsetse flies decided to fly by. The tsetse flies are a bit bigger than normal house flies and when they bite you it hurts like hell. I only got bit once in the leg, but my dad got bit quite a few times which can be dangerous.
The other few safaris were pretty much more of the same. Although we did see many birds, hippos, rhinos, giraffes, wildebeests, zebras, gazelles, buffalo, and a couple of lions. But it was pretty much drive, stop, take a photo, get your camera stolen, and lose your flipp'n photos because you had no internet to back them up. Don't get me wrong, I loved the safaris, I just didn't like the whole feel of them. We didn't have a close up, real time with the animals. That's not to say our safari was dry and we probably saw more than most people. We had an excellent driver and a good time. But I didn't enjoy it as much as say, bathing with an elephant, or playing with them face to face, like we did in Thailand. However, I would still strongly recommend a safari.
I apologize for my dry and strict writing, Charles Dickens' Great Expectations has sucked the flavor out of my writing or so I'd like to think it had flavor.
