safari |

this guy pursued this girl all night. sometimes the girls will lead them on for days on end. we’re not so different, really.

i’ve been thinking a lot about how i wanted to write about last month’s safari in south africa. before going, i thought i knew what i had signed up for, but it took me about five minutes on the safari vehicle to realize i was completely wrong! so i think the best way to fill you in is to just copy my notes from my travel journal so you can relive my surprise/fear/awe/disbelief/love of the entire experience. enjoy!

the south african bush. #nofilter

notes from my journal:

from nelspruit airport to sabi sands private game reserve is 2.5 hours by car. the sights we saw while en route: cows walking freely, women with baskets/packages on head, goats, people walking everywhere, funeral homes, banana and eucalyptus trees, soccer matches played by kids/teens, speed bumps, KFC, unfinished stone houses, babies strapped on backs with colorful clothes, bright electric blue birds. our driver, colin, was 31. he lives nearby with two sons with tribe names. he asked many questions: do americans protest? tell me about your government. how many languages are you speaking (he spoke three: english, africaans, and his tribe language)? do you like will smith (he loves “bad boys”)? his boys love KFC. the journey was 210 km, but over 2 hours due to most of the road being unpaved and extremely bumpy.

this is our awesome ranger and tracker at arathusa – if you go, you gotta get with double D (dries and derick)!

so we arrive at sabi sands, our private game reserve that shares a border with kruger national park (animals roam freely between both), around 3pm. we go through security at the gate, where they search our car for guns – apparently there are still poachers around. we drive through to our lodge (many lodges in this reserve) called arathusa. we check in, drink some nice mango juice, get a warm towel at reception, and are walked to our hut. upon putting down our things, our guide tells us the evening game drive leaves in…ten minutes! we rush to change clothes and hurry out to the vehicle, where we are immediately whisked away! no instructions other than “do not stand up – the animals may charge!” noted.

this is a photo of another vehicle with a lion lying in front. this is how close we would get to the animals! it’s insane! usually we would drive up to a pride of five to seven lions and just chill with them for 20 minutes.

the vehicles are massive with four rows of seats: first row for the ranger (driver), and three rows of three seats each for guests. seats are stadium style and blankets are provided. rides are at dawn and dusk, aka feeding times. the animals are used to seeing the vehicles because they have seen them since birth and do not feel threatened, so we came very close to the animals. as in, a LION touched the tire i was sitting over! very frightening and amazing all at once. the vehicles are open air, no doors, no roof, nothing between that hungry lion and me. #ohhello

if that’s not going to cause your heart to pause, i’m not sure what will. mama lion at kapama game reserve.

the ranger drives and radios other drivers to see if anyone has seen anything. the tracker sits in a seat on the hood of the vehicle and looks at the footprints in the road to follow the tracks to the animals. at night, the tracker shines a light looking for the red eyes of nocturnal animals (when you finally find the pair of red eyes, the sight is really quite surreal: oh, there’s a pride of lions? onward for a closer view!).

this is what you find at night when searching for nocturnal animals. #scary

on our first drive, we saw a pride of lions, a leopard (very difficult to see since they travel alone and are constantly on the move), many deer-like animals, giraffe, and many birds. on our second drive, we saw two lion prides, zebras, buffalo, warthogs, rhinos, and more. my favorites are the awkward giraffe and the stupid-looking elephant – we saw a family of elephants surround their baby when they smelled the lion dung on our vehicle. had to leave immediately or else they would have charged!

this is a leopard that is really close. we followed him for 40 minutes as he walked around and marked his territory. so beautiful (the leopard, not the marking of territory).

these elephants smelled lion dung on our car and freaked out. they immediately circled the babies and prepared to charge. we exited quickly.

animals are everywhere and we come so close! i’ve gotten nervous several times when we go off the road to track an animal, running over bush and trees in the process. in a pinch, how would we escape? today, one pride was quite skittish, and we had no easy escape – terrifying, but we were also only 20 feet away from five lions – so surreal!

there is no zoom here – just a crazy close elephant ripping apart a tree. she charged us post-photo. terrifying/i love her.

the african buffalo: hideous and dangerous. i left the sides of the vehicle in the frame so you can see how close we were. the surrounded us. then charged us. after my heart resumed beating, we drove on.

all of this is extremely bizarre and awesome. i feel miles away from cape town, and even further from home. where are we?!

just a couple of rhinos out for a snack. i’m not entirely convinced that these guys aren’t really dinosaurs. can someone prove that to me?

our safari schedule:

5:30am – wake-up call

5:45am – coffee and tea at the bar

6:00am – morning drives

6:45am – sunrise

7:30am – coffee/tea stop in the bush with your vehicle

my husband stopping for morning coffee in the middle of the bush – not much protection here from a lion.

9:00am – return for breakfast (one day, they surprised us and we had a bush breakfast outside – we were greeted with champagne and gorgeous views!)

10:45am – bush walks with guides, where you walk through the bush on foot (completely terrifying for me)

2:00pm – lunch

3:00pm – high tea

3:30pm – afternoon drives

5:30pm – sundowner cocktail stop – pretty crazy to drink a gin and tonic while side-eyeing a giraffe nearby

6:00pm – sunset

6:30pm – return to the lodge (one night, they surprised us and we had a bush dinner in the dark – someone saw hyena circling – so crazy. we had a lesson in stargazing and ate delicious food (the food at safaris is plentiful and amazing – you do not go hungry).

headed back to our vehicle post-bush dinner. the stars were so bright in south africa! our rangers pointed out the southern cross and other constellations.

we met so many amazing guests from around the world at arathusa, and many had travel stories that were so inspirational (so many places to see, so little time!). we ate meals together, and chatted over cocktails pre-dinner. our second safari was at a more upscale lodge (kapama karula), and was lovely, but did not have the same community feel to it as arathusa did. if you’re looking for a good place that gives you amazing guides, plentiful animals, and a really great safari experience, i would 100% recommend arathusa. check out my reviews of arathusa and kapama karula on trip advisor, as well.

the view from our room included these cuties! very loud (and apparently dangerous), they had a group of seven that hung out together. these are the babies.

these are the footprints/tracks the tracker looks for when searching for the animals. the large round ones are elephants, and we learned how to identify the tracks of rhinos, hippos, leopards, lions, and more.

i recently returned from a two-week trip to south africa (patience, grasshopper, for the full details), and what a fantastic travel experience that was. five days in cape town were followed by six days spent safariing, with a few days of travel on either end (turns out it takes a really, really long time to get to south africa from dallas…somewhere in the middle we spent 12 hours in london).

when talking to our travel agent, she nonchalantly mentioned that we should pack light, and “oh by the way, don’t pack your rollies!” excuse me? “roller bags.” oh. in other words, good luck packing for two weeks with winter clothes (yes, winter in the southern hemisphere between june and august) in one duffel bag (apparently, certain safari lodges prefer the duffels for ease of transfer…not sure it would have made a difference, as we saw plenty of rollies while on safari). i could have packed two duffel bags, but after lufthansa lost my bag on our honeymoon in 100-degree athens, my carry-ons have been getting a lot more love.

so, where to begin with packing? i’m not going to lie: it seemed daunting, even for me, a self-proclaimed packing guru. especially since being more of a city girl, i had zero “active/camping” clothes for these so-called bush drives. turns out, it was much easier than expected. the clothes i packed (with the exception of one safari shirt that i decided was useles) are all shown above. let’s start with what you’ll need for six days of safari (12 safari drives, two per day):

2-3 pairs of light weight safari pants (#13 and #14). i bought two pairs of pranna pants, and they were my favorite purchase for the trip. they were light enough for the warm days, rolled up into capri pants for the hot afternoons, and were warm enough for the cool evenings. they were also quick to dry in case i needed to wash them, and were very small when rolled up for packing.
1 pair of leggings or long underwear (#24, rolled). if you go in the winter like i did (note: this is the best time to go in south africa because it is easier to see the animals), the weather can get extremely cold when the sun goes down. we started our drives before sunrise, and i appreciated that extra layer (sometimes the temperature was in the mid- to low 30s when we started the drives!). you may not need this if traveling in the summer months, or if traveling to safaris in warmer locations.

stopped for coffee and muffins on our south african safari; staying warm with north face jacket layered over tee and sweater (#4 and #10), safari pants (#14), and fleece headband (#20).

5-6 t-shirts (long or short sleeves) (#1 – #5) – rather than buying shirts specifically made for safaris, i brought my standard target/h&m long sleeved shirts that i would wear at home. i made sure the colors were neutral (so you don’t scare the animals away), and found these to be perfect for the drives. i regretted buying a more expensive safari-specific shirt that i will probably never wear again. i also packed one short sleeved shirt, which proved useful on one warm afternoon.
2 pairs of jeans/slacks (#15 and #16) – i brought one pair of dark skinny jeans and one pair of black pants to wear during the day (between drives) and in the evenings for dinner. this was plenty as no one dresses up much for meals, even at the more luxurious lodges.
2 colorful scarves (#6 and #12) – i bought two at target right before i left, and they became my go-to accessories for the entire trip! perfect for the evening meals and added a much-needed pop of color to my otherwise neutral outfits.

just taking a selfie with some elephants. notice my nice sweater outfit (#5 and #11) while my husband is safari’d out.

1 pair of comfortable tennis shoes (#19) – you do not need to buy a new pair of walking shoes for your safari as you will be doing very little walking (if you exit the vehicle, a lion may eat you). i brought a pair of running shoes, which was just fine and didn’t require me to spend any additional money. they also kept my feet warm in the cold mornings.
1 pair of nice flats (#25) – to wear during the day and in the evenings
1 hat or fleece headband, gloves, & scarf (#20 and #21) – as mentioned above, it gets extremely cold when the sun goes down, so you will want something to keep you warm, this only applies to the winter months in countries that get an actual winter (e.g., june – august in south africa).
3 sweaters (#9, #10, and #11)- for layering with the long sleeved shirts on especially cold days, and also for wearing around the lodge.
minimal jewelry – i wore a simple gold bracelet, watch, and earrings (that i purchased in cape town) on safari, and that was plenty. i also did not bring my engagement ring, but just wore my band for the extent of the trip.
1 jacket (see photo above) – this will be your most important purchase, because you want something versatile enough to move around in, but warm enough for cold drives. i chose a north face zip up in heathered grey, which was perfect and didn’t require a scarf due to the high neck. other guests wore fitted puffy jackets that seemed to do the trick just as well.

a lovely day at babylonstoren farms, wearing a sweater (#8) over a tee (#2) with a colorful scarf (#6).

since we explored cape town for five days prior to the safari, i also needed city clothes. in addition to the clothes i mentioned above, i brought the following:

2 additional sweaters for layering over the shirts during the day (#7 and #8)
1 additional pair of jeans (#7)
1 additional short-sleeved shirt for the travel days (worn with the north face jacket) (not separately pictured, see photo above)
1 additional pair of leggings for the travel days (#18)
1 additional pair of comfortable flats for exploring the city (#22)
2 pairs of chandelier earrings to dress up outfits at night (not pictured)

exploring the winelands of stellenbosch (outside of cape town) on a cool day. staying warm in a large sweater (#9) layered over a long-sleeved tee (#3) and skinny jeans (#15).

with the cooler weather, you can re-wear each shirt twice (or wash it, if you so desire). all of this – safari and city gear – fit into one carry-on sized duffel bag – stay tuned for next week’s post on how to roll these clothes into the duffel – with photos! to make it all work, i wore my largest items (running shoes and north face jacket) on the travel days, and packed my travel sized toiletries in my tote bag that fit under my seat.

dress comfortably for a long day(s) of travel

on our last day in south africa (sad), and about to embark on a 48-hour trip home. dressed comfortably in north face jacket, scarf (#12), leggings (#18), and tennis shoes (#19).

do you have any suggestions for packing light on an urban/safari mix vacation?

jaunt: one girl's search for adventure

Tag Archives: safari

my jaunts: a south african safari

travel tips: safari + cape town + 2 weeks = carry-on!