Safari Journals: Day 8: Giraffes Elephants
Today I was awakened in the middle of a dream, which always makes me grumpy. And tired. Luckily we saw next to no animals all morning so I had a good nap in the land rover.
We did eventually get to see giraffes, which had been high on my to-find list. I finally got a decent picture of one.
I am really looking forward to playing with these photos and making them look as nice as possible. All of the photos I post here have been slightly enhanced. Creative liberty!
Later we were almost rampaged by a herd of over-protective elephants. Not really, but it seemed like it to me. We were about 15 feet away from a group of 8 or so with a baby and a pregnant mother. The mother got pretty angry at us and stomped and stared us down for a few long minutes. She finally walked away and when we started to leave, the entire herd turned to face us menacingly and moved toward us, but they let us leave in peace.
We made it back to camp alive, luckily for the managers, who had forgotten to get us to sign the liability waivers until now.
The highlight for the morning- again- lions. This time we watched for maybe a full hour as two females played red-light-green-light with a couple of zebras. I dozed off a few times for maybe ten minute naps- each time I woke up I expected to see the lions off in the distance, but they had never moved more than a few feet. The stalking game is very slow.
When the lions were just a few steps away from attack distance after an hour of patiently sneaking up a step at a time, another land rover came from behind the zebras and scared them away. The lions and their families didn’t seem to care much and decided it was nap time.
We get a very long break today- 4 hours before our next drive. I finally had time to shower during the day and catch up on writing. Although this has been a fun trip, I will be glad to go home because I am feeling internet-deprived and disconnected. I feel like the internet is an extension of my brain- I can know anything almost instantly. Here the topics of conversation, the environment, the art, and the books, are pretty much exclusively centered around African wildlife and travel. It is certainly cool to learn about Africa, but I am on overload and excited to work on my blog, talk to my boyfriend and my family, and head out on my next adventure to Colorado.
Just a side note- the mango I picked almost ten days ago at Victoria Falls still hasnt ripened. Tomorrow is our last day in Africa so if it is not good by then I guess Ill throw it out to the little white monkeys that like to play in the trees by our tent.
The evening drive was very quiet. The English couple had left camp so it was only me, Poppy, and Mo in the car, and there were few animals to be seen. I was happy that we did get to see some smaller, unusual animals, like a little armadillo-like thing waddling along in the dirt, and what I thought was a baby impala. Mo said the animal was fully grown, not an impala, and I thought he was kidding. But he got out his guidebook and showed me the steenbok, which looks like a little baby deer. We also got to see a tree full of uglybirds. (Not their real name.)
And of course, we said goodnight to our sleepy lion friends who were slowly waking up from their afternoon naps to try another round of hunting.
The lions are really cute and cuddly with each other. As they were waking up they petted and hugged each other for minutes at a time. It was very cute. So what did I learn in Africa? Lions are cute and cuddly and elephants are scary demons.
This is part of a series called Safari Journals. You can read the rest of the journals here:
Day 1 – Day 2 – Day 3 – Day 4 – Day 5 – Day 6 – Day 7 – Day 8 – Day 9 – Day 10
