Today was African safari time! Well, the real safaris happen hundreds of miles north of here in or near Kruger Park, but there are private game parks within a couple of hours of Cape Town that offer sightings of “the big 5” as they are called and other wildlife in a fenced, 11,000+ acre preserve.
We climbed into an open jeep-type vehicle and bumped out over the rather arid landscape surrounded by stony hills. There were beautiful, fragile-looking springbok (something like a tiny deer with strips) all over the area. Two Cape Buffalo ignored us (fortunately, as the driver said, “If they move, we move.”). A mama and baby hippo were sleeping on a sandbar, and we saw a giraffe in the distance. Ostriches roamed everywhere. There were several groups (not quite what I would term herds) of beautiful zebras that blended into the landscape in an amazing way (you would think the stripes would make them stand out, but they don’t). Two huge rhinos seemed sound asleep. Two adolescent elephants were standing right alongside what passes for a road. Then we drove into the separate lion section. We almost gave up seeing them, but then finally the guide spotted a female with his binoculars. Eventually two more females and a young male ambled into view.
While it was all a bit contrived, it doesn’t seem like you have been in Africa until you have seen some of the famous wildlife. The day was a good finale to my time in Africa, especially because there was another woman on the trip who had also been at the conference. We informally debriefed our experience for the whole two-hour ride out and back.
Heading home tomorrow. I’m ready!! Looking forward to seeing you!
I will post one or two Lausanne summary/evaluation blogs in the next week or so.
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