Having the privilege of working on a Game reserve gives you and the guests the advantage of getting closer to the animals with your 4×4 vehicle. It’s always great whenever your guests are as excited as yourself when a Lion roars 10 metres away from your eardrum or an Elephant trumpets in a distance. Every drive around any corner there will be something to look at. The 3 hours on drive is great but nothing beats a 2 hour walk on a big 5 property surrounded by the world’s deadliest snakes, spiders and dangerous animals.
This morning was extremely hot, so we decided that we’ll only have an hour drive, park the vehicle and have a relaxed bushwalk! We had a “safe talk” prior to the walk and everybody, including the 2 “tannies”(Afrikaans word for elderly woman) understood the risks we are all taking whenever you leave the safety of the Land Cruiser.
After the first 55 minutes in the sun, we were all dripping of summer sweat and decided to turn around and make our way back. I knew this area fairly well so I took a different route back to the vehicle.
20 minutes later, on our way back, we all came to a standstill….a female Rhino with her young bull were blocking our route! Luckily the wind was in our favour (a light breeze blowing from the 2 ton animal). I signal to the 6 anxious looking guests that we must sit down and be very quite. The 2 Rhinos were grazing about 15 metres away from us and didn’t have an idea that they were watch by us (it is ideal for a good bush walk experience for the animals to continue with their day-to-day activities). Slowly with their huge bodies they continue their grazing habits east towards a water hole. On our last few metres towards the vehicle, everybody ‘sighed’ from relief and only realized then how much MORE exiting it was; walking a BIG 5 Animal on foot!!!
Joe van Rensburg – Kapama River Lodge
3/12/2012
