Home of the Big 5

Thursday, 9 November

Although not really Safari country, Kate & I felt compelled to go on a Safari while in South Africa. Not sure what to expect, our biggest concern was that our Safari would be a glorified zoo for the Big 5.

We were pleasantly surprised about our experience. I think we were both hoping to see more animals and see them a little closer, but our trusty Game Ranger was very knowledgeable about the animals and the area. The Aquila Game Reserve had only been open about 5 years and was still rather young. All of the animals had been brought to the game reserve to help protect them from being killed or dying, but the habitat in which they were roaming was as similar as to what they would live in if the animals were in Botswana or Zambia or their original habitat. We saw all sorts of animals: Elephants, Springbok, Wildebees, Rhinos, Ostrich, Zebra, and Lions.

My favorite part of my first Safari (and hopefully not my last) experience was the horse-back ride Kate and I did in the afternoon. Our trusty leader, Andre, guided us on horseback in search of some animals that we did not get the opportunity to see in the morning. The Giraffe being one. At the beginning of the horse ride as we were riding through the dusty bushes, we stopped. Andre asked Kate & I to look around to see if we saw anything. At a short distance, hiding in the bushes, we saw the horns and the beedy eyes of a buffalo. Yes, a Buffalo. It was great. The horse back ride really allowed us to get much closer to the “wild animals”. We rode around the buffalo, but he watched us every step of the way.

On horseback, as we made our way over a hill and looked out on the land before us, we saw a herd of Zebra grazing in the distance and 4 Rhino playing in a field of dust. We set out to get a bit closer to the Rhinos and we did. But, the male was staying a back from the 2 females and the baby, therefore, Andre could not take us as close as he would have liked to, as we were all unsure what the Male Rhino would do.

We started to make our way back towards the lodge and in our path were the Zebra. Luckily, being on a horse, we can get really close to the Zebra without the Zebra being too offended. As we headed towards them, they did start to scatter off, but we ended up riding right through them. The setting with the giant lake in the background, surrounded by mountains, the dusty bushes and the wildlife was gorgeous.

Upon our return to the lodge, the Mama Hippo and her baby and come out of the lake and perched themselves on the beach. That is, of course, until they saw us and they quickly got up and headed back into the water.

To end the day, I got to pet a Cheetah.