The big draw for anyone visiting southern or eastern Africa is the wildlife. Images of vast plains with the silhouette of a giraffe off in the distance; a large watering hole surrounded by zebras, elephants, and impalas; or herds of antelopes and wildebeest running through the fields on migration – these are the scenes that come to mind when first dreaming of a trip to Africa. These stereotypes are there for a reason – they are all true! During our time in Africa, we visited four national parks in as many different countries, spotting everything from four of the ‘Big Five’ (leopards are the only animal we didn’t see, but we did get to observe lions, elephants, buffalos, and rhinos) to tiny birds with a funny call named Spotted Thick-Knees. Two of the safaris were done while on our Intrepid tour and the other two were independent, giving us a different perspective of traveling with a group versus by ourselves. The game drives that we did within each park were all unique and offered us the opportunities to watch numerous animals living among varied landscapes.
Etosha National Park, Namibia
Our first introduction to African wildlife came at Etosha National Park, located in northern Namibia. With our Intrepid tour, we spent one night each at two campgrounds on opposites ends of the park. For our first game drive, conducted in our large Intrepid truck, we looped around the western end of the park near the Okaukuejo Camp. Shortly after beginning the drive, we spotted a tower of giraffes off in the distance, munching on the thistle trees that filled the land. Although we would later see more giraffes closer to our truck, we were excited at our first glimpse of wildlife. Over the next few hours and days, we would spot all sorts of animals: lions, wildebeest, ostriches, rhinos, impalas, kudu, oryx, and about a million birds.
As we drove back to our campsite the first afternoon after our drive, we hit the jackpot during ‘golden hour’ (the hour just before sunset). Driving slowly down a dirt road, with no other vehicles near us, I shouted “Stop!” to our driver, Rasta. A black rhino was standing in the bushes not 10 feet from our truck – a rarity among the animals at the park. We watched the large animal grazing for a while before continuing, only to stop many times over the next hour to observe seven more rhinos along our way. Even our guide, Makori, commented at the luck we had – he told us that many groups never see one rhino, let alone eight in one afternoon!
Later in the evening, Ellie, Sam, Jon, and I headed to the park office to join a nighttime game drive – an optional activity for which we paid extra. We bundled into the open-air 4×4 Jeep and drove out of the gate, which is kept locked after dusk. Our Jeep was the only vehicle allowed out in the park after-hours and it was a surreal feeling riding around in the dark, with no lights, knowing wild animals could be anywhere. Our spotter, sitting in the cab of the truck, shown a red spotlight quickly across the road and both sides of the Jeep (a white spotlight would have temporarily blinded the animals, which isn’t advised as then they can’t see predators as easily). Occasionally, they would stop and keep the light focused on an animal, whispering the name to us in the back of the truck. Among the more usual animals, such as wildebeest, jackals, and impala, we also stopped to let a black rhino cross the road in front of our truck. We had thought that would be the highlight of our game drive, since black rhinos are one of the rarer animals to be seen. A short time later, our guide showed us a small group of zebras walking quickly across an open field. After watching for a minute, he turned and told us that a lion would be somewhere behind them; that’s why they were walking so quickly in a tight group. Sure enough, we drove slowly down the road and found a male lion following the zebras, possibly herding them toward where the lionesses of his pride were waiting. Seeing a large lion on a hunt was thrilling – something we never expected to see during our time in Africa!
Chobe National Park, Botswana
Situated in the northeastern part of Botswana, near the Zimbabwean and Zambian borders, sits Chobe National Park. Known for its large population of elephants, we entered Chobe expecting to have our first elephant encounters. That was not to be, as we only saw one herd of elephants off in the distance during our visit. While disappointing, the rest of Chobe wildlife made up for the fact that we weren’t able to view any elephants at that park. Our stay at Chobe was based in the Chobe Game Lodge, where a group campsite was only a short walk to the public areas with a pool, bar, and gift shop. The campsite and path along the wooden walkways was interesting on its own; monkeys, warthogs, and bushbuck roamed freely among the vehicles, tents, and buildings. The large outdoor area adjacent to the lodge offered deck chairs and views over the Chobe River – the perfect place to sit and watch the sunset with a glass of wine.
Although we had plenty of free time at Chobe to take advantage of the amenities, our main purpose for the stay was to go into the park to see the animals. Two different modes of transportation were available for our game drives: an open-air 4×4 Jeep for a dawn game drive and a pontoon boat with a rooftop viewing platform for an afternoon river safari. During the morning drive, we spotted my favorite animal: the hippo. Standing near the water, they grazed on tall grass while Oxpecker birds perched on their back, helping to keep the large animals free from ticks and other irritants. Eventually, the hippos lumbered off to submerge in the water and cool off.
After a break for lunch, a swim in the pool, and change of clothes, we boarded a boat for a river safari. Cruising up and down the Chobe River, our boat captain steered us as close to the animals in the water and on the shoreline as he could. From this vantage point, we floated next to Cape buffaloes getting a drink out of the water, crocodiles sunning themselves on islands, hippos breeching for air, and fish eagles perched on branches looking for prey. While we did not see a great diversity of wildlife on the river safari, we got close to and had a unique perspective of the animals that we did see. The cruise was a relaxing and enjoyable way to spend the afternoon.
Mosi-Ao-Tunya National Park, Zambia
Having completed our tour with Intrepid, we crossed into Zambia where we spent a few days relaxing at our hotel and visiting Victoria Falls. Just outside of Livingstone, the park where the falls are located is also a national park for wildlife – Mosi-Ao-Tunya. The name translates to “Smoke that Thunders” and refers to the falls (and mist generated by the power of the water), but is also home to numerous animals. We debated, but finally elected to take a game drive through the park on our last day; deciding that since we were in Africa, now was the time to go on safari and see the animals! As luck would have it, nobody else signed up for our game drive so we ended up with a personal tour of the park, accompanied by our driver and guide.
As we drove around the park, we spotted the common animals that we had seen on our previous game drives: buffalo, impalas, crocodiles, giraffes, baboons, zebras, and wildebeest, among others. There were two specific animals that we saw in this park that deserve special mention however: a python and a black rhino. While driving along a path nearing some buffalo, our driver stopped suddenly and exclaimed. He and our guide, in their excitement, got out of the truck and told us to do the same; they had spotted a python lying under a tree that they wanted to investigate. We could tell that the python was a rare sighting, since both our guide and driver took pictures of it with their cell phones and walked all around it. Why the excitement? The snake had just eaten an entire baby impala and was laying under the tree digesting its meal; we could plainly see in the large middle of the python where the impala’s head and hooves were. We were told that the snake would stay in that same spot for up to two weeks while it digested the food; there were no predators in the park that would hunt it during that time.
Our guide and driver on our safari were friendly and open, asking us questions about our time in Africa and our lives back in the USA while we did the same of them. It was during one of these conversations that they asked us if we had done a “rhino walk” – a separate part of a safari where you walk close to rhinos in the park. We said no; it was more expensive and we didn’t have the time to add that on before we left Livingstone. After a quick consultation with each other, they decided to take us anyway, because they didn’t want us to not have the experience of walking with the rhinos! Although in the end we tipped them extra, they offered this to us at no extra cost because they thought we should have that experience while in Zambia. A spur-of-the-moment decision, we didn’t have time to become nervous before arriving in a separate part of the park reserved for the rhino encounters. There, we were paired with an armed guard who accompanied us the entire time we were on foot in the park. You may think that he was there to protect us against an animal attack, but it was actually the opposite – he was there to protect the rhinos from poachers or other acts of violence from humans. With our guard, we walked for ¼ mile on foot to the area where two rhinos were grazing: a mother and a two-year-old. As we stood close, only about 30 feet away, we marveled at the size and bulk of the animals. A few minutes later, we were led away (time with the rhinos is strictly regulated, to limit their exposure to humans), awestruck and thankful we had received the gift of the rhino walk from our guide and driver.
Addo Elephant Park, South Africa
Our final wildlife encounter in Africa almost didn’t happen; we were never planning on going to Addo Elephant Park and it was only a decision made 12 hours prior that made it happen. Throughout our time visiting other national parks, we had seen most of the animals available; the exceptions to this were leopards and elephants. We knew that the chance of spotting a leopard in the wild was rare and weren’t too disappointed having missed it. However, we had been told by our guides and friends that elephants were plentiful and common throughout the parks, but we had yet to spot one closer than 200 yards. Driving through South Africa on our way to the coast, I noticed that Addo Elephant Park was only a slight detour off our planned route. Late in the afternoon, we decided to scrap our plans for that evening and stay just outside of the park, getting up early to do a self-driven safari through the park in the hopes of finally seeing the elusive (to us) elephant.
In our small Nissan Micra, we entered the park and started driving one of the loops off the visitor’s center. While we saw a handful of other animals at first, we were worried that we would not see any elephants. That concern was laid to rest when we drove up to our first elephant sighting; a large male standing right next to the road digging at the grass. We pulled up next to him and spent the next half hour sitting in the car and watching him, marveling at the fact that he was only a few feet from the car. We were thrilled with our elephant encounter and considered the visit a success, even though we had only seen one and had been in the park for less than an hour! Driving through the park, we spent the next six hours going from one sighting to the next; elephants around watering holes, crossing the roads, grazing in the fields, or walking along hills.
Our favorite moment came when we stopped our car due to a large elephant standing in the middle of the road. He flapped his ears and took a step toward us – a sign he wanted us to move back. Jon backed the car up slowly to get out of his way, only to see on our left that the entire herd of elephants was emerging from behind the bushes to cross the road where our car had been only moments before! Over 20 elephants walked the path from one side to the other, just feet from where our car was parked. Jon and I were quiet, not able to speak as we watched the enormous creatures slowly making their way in front of us. As I happened to have my cell phone taking a video when we stopped the car, the moment was captured and we are able to relive it every time we replay it.
Summary
Our wildlife encounters were magical and each park offered a different experience to us. It’s impossible to choose which park we liked the best, as we got something unique from each one. Etosha was our first safari and sighting of many animals we had only seen on TV previously, as well as the opportunity to be out at night when the nocturnal animals are awake. Chobe was a beautiful setting, allowing us to view the wildlife from land and from the water, giving us two different perspectives. Mosi-Ao-Tunya was a private experience and the rhino walk was an unexpected bonus that we never imagined being able to do. Addo finally gave us our up-close elephant encounters, something Jon had been wanting his entire time in Africa. I had been worried that we would get tired of seeing the same animals over and over, but that concern was misplaced and the reality is that we could have gone on twice the number of game drives and never been bored. Seeing animals in their natural environment, going about their business without interference from man, was an incredible experience and one that we could never recreate by going to a zoo. The wildlife is amazing and the scenery is beautiful. For once, a stereotype about Africa is true.
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