African safari: Seeking the big five and learning much more

Lakeside’s Senior Reporter

Pamela A. Keene recently returned from an African Safari. Here is her first installment of a two-part series describing the fascinating journey that offered up a surprise or two:

By Pamela A. Keene

They’re called the Big Five – lions, leopards, elephants, rhinoceros and cheetah – and travelers to Africa doggedly seek them on safari. However, if that’s your reason for traveling to the Southern Hemisphere on a 17-hour non-stop flight from Atlanta to Johannesburg, you’re missing the point of this incredible adventure.

Certainly the mammals and birds – painted dogs, lilacbreaster rollers, cape buffalo, hippopotamus and giraffes – cause the heart to beat faster and the camera shutters to click at record speed, but journeying with Overseas Adventure Travel digs deeper.

Meeting villagers doing their daily chores, visiting with school children on holiday who came to see the Americans, and hearing from game officials dedicated to apprehending poachers that threatened wildlife elevated our 16-day trek through Zimbabwe, Zambia and Botswana to the highest level.

The photos tell the story, but so did our Program Director Armstrong Siyawareva, who has been leading photo safaris for more than a decade and knows the secrets of the African bush. He also knows the best place to get an amazing hamburger, how to truly enjoy sundowners and what to do if you lose your iPhone while viewing lions. Don’t jump out of the safari jeep!

The exploration begins

As the capital of South Africa, Johannesburg is a big city, called Jo-burg by locals. Arriving a day early, Rick and I arranged a tour to the district of Soweto where both Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela lived at different times. The short street was filled with vendors, tribal entertainers and a smattering of tourists.

Tutu’s home, now owned privately, isn’t open to tours, but Mandela’s humble red-brick home details his 27-year imprisonment for anti-colonial activism, his release in 1990 and his rise to the country’s presidency from 1994-1998. His life-long dedication to human rights made him an international influence until his death at age 95 in December 2013.

Without realizing it, our visit to Soweto provided our first glimpse of the complicated lives of the people across these four countries of southern Africa. Many people go to this part of the world to see the Big Five and other wildlife, but for us, our eyes were opened to the disparate cultures, politics and people we would experience over the next 15 days.

Fourteen of us boarded a plane from Jo-burg to Victoria Falls, a small but teeming town known for the massive Victoria Falls, the world’s largest waterfall. All we got was a taste of its massive presence through the window of the plane where the mist constantly rises above the horizon, and another from the van window as we headed to Zimbabwe, and our first of four safari camps.

Hwange National Park several hours’ drive gave Armstrong a chance to introduce us to his home country, which he called Zim, with its extensive mineral mining, mostly gold. Along the way, glimpses of people along the dusty and bumpy highway began

See Safari, pages 49, 51

Feline fascination always increased everyone’s heartbeat as we made photos of these elegant cats, top photos. The two younger lionesses, probably yearlings, were more interested in playing than hunting, above. Mutual respect between safari guides and wildlife helped us get close enough to the animals for a photo of this male impala, left.

Throughout our journey, Program Director Armstrong Siyawareva shared insights and memorable phrases:

ALTs: We saw many animals that turned out to be “animal-looking things,” otherwise called ALT. Tree branches, termite mounds, floating logs and the like can be deceiving.

Monkey business: We had lunch with the monkeys. While eating a picnic under a large tree, a small Werner monkey skittered down from the tree and stole my sandwich right from my hand.

Nature calls: On safari, a “pit stop” could be called “a loo with a view” or the “toilettrees are waiting.”

Meal time wish: Wishing diners a pleasant meal, “bon appetit” became “baboon up a tree.”

Nature’s recycling: Elephant dung has many uses – repellent for Tsetse flies when burned in a special container at the back of the safari jeep; undigested remains include whole nuts that smaller animals eat; and habitat for insects.

Wisdom: Only a wise man will plant a tree and never see its shade.

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