Emily K's safari experiences

I have been fortunate to have seen a lot of phenomenal wildlife in the past few weeks, below are some stories from my safari experiences so far. Some stories are from a private game reserve a few hours outside of Cape Town where some of my visitors went and other stories are from magnificent Kruger National Park in the Mpumalanga province. Additionally there is some information about the weather and climate in Johannesburg. Our excursion was filled with important historical sites and pure natural beauty so this blog will focus on the natural elements and I will dedicate a separate blog post to my experiences at the museums, memorials, and cultural sites we visited in Johannesburg as well as my impressions of the city.

The weather in Johannesburg is much different than in Cape Town. Johannesburg is located in the northeast section of the country and is isolated from any coastline. The mornings this week were cool and during the day it could get very hot especially standing in the sun. Most days when we were there the sky opened up letting loose fitful afternoon rain showers that drenched the streets and left a lingering cold. One night there was a thunderstorm that lasted for a few hours sending vibrant streaks of lightening across the sky. In Mpumalanga, where we were for safari near the border of Mozambique and Zimbabwe, the weather was much more consistent and stayed overcast for the entirety of the two days we spent there.

This was quite the week for animals! Safari proved to be an amazing experience. In South Africa there are five animals known as “The Big Five” which every safari goer tries to see and I am happy to report that we managed to view all five; though some only briefly. The Big Five consists of the lion, the leopard, the buffalo, the elephant, and the rhinoceros. We came across the leopard, the most elusive or hard to find of the five, at night along one of the safari paths marking its territory by scratching a tree. The two lionesses we saw were accompanied by a litter of six cubs pouncing and playing while their mother looked on well aware of our presence. In addition to the Big Five we saw zebras, antelope, an animal related to the antelope called a Kudu, a white tailed mongoose, a few chameleons, a crocodile, an eagle, and several other exotic birds. It was very exciting to see these animals in their natural habitat and I was very grateful that we saw so much!

One of the coolest occurrences on safari was when we saw an elephant and two rhinos interact at Aquila private game reserve. We started out by following the elephant down a path that opened up into an open area where two rhinos were standing and minding their own business. Elephants are very expressive creatures and I am not joking when I tell you that it turned and gave our safari car a mischievous glance before proceeding to tease the rhinos. The elephant would wrap its trunk around the horn of one of the rhinos and the rhino in turn, most definitely annoyed, would shuffle backwards and threaten to charge the elephant. This did not seem to bother the elephant at all who continued provoking the rhinos for what appeared to be, and what was confirmed by our safari guide to be, to his own amusement. This led up to a tense moment where both rhinos charged at the elephant eventually causing the smug elephant to head off, having had its dose of entertainment for the day. 

On safari “game drives” happen at night and early in the morning when you are most likely to see the animals. On our nighttime game drive we were speeding along in pursuit of some lions when the driver stopped abruptly, or without notice, and put the van into reverse. We stopped by a tall leafy tree but no one had any idea why. People seated in the outermost seats carry spotlights to try and find animals in the dark and they were waving the spotlights in search of whatever animal we had stopped for. Our safari driver chastised us, or teased us, for not being able to find what he saw and eventually after having sufficiently made the tourists feel like tourists he pointed to where a tiny chameleon was situated in the tree. Driving in the dark, with no street lights, at sixty miles per hour our safari guide managed to spot a four inch long chameleon perched high in a tree. Our safari vehicle was thoroughly impressed and then concluded that the chameleon, who is known for changing its color to blend in with its surroundings, was not a very good chameleon.