Most traditional African safaris involve either a game drive in a open 4×4 vehicle or a bush walk.
The word “game” refers to wild animals.
Exploring the African savannah in a game drive vehicle lets you cover long distances, giving you the chance to spot a wide variety of animals along the way.
Since wildlife is typically most active in the early morning and late afternoon, game drives are scheduled accordingly. Morning drives run from around 6 to 10am and include a relaxing bush break with snacks, tea, and coffee before heading back to the lodge for a proper brunch.
Afternoon drives take place between roughly 3:30 and 7pm, adding a whole new dimension to the safari experience as daylight fades. This is your chance to spot nocturnal animals such as bushbabies, spring hares, and porcupines, or even catch a glimpse of an elusive leopard or other predators on the prowl. Embrace these game drives to experience the true essence of a safari – out in the bush, you never know what might happen next.
The purpose of a walking safari is not to tick the big five off a list or to see as much game as possible. It is about giving you a more authentic and thrilling connection with the environment surrounding you and allowing the magic to unfold. Embracing the essence of a safari by indulging in the experiences around you and the people who accompany you.
We encourage participants to go on a walks, with the option to sleep under canvas.
A transformative retreat into true wilderness – walking with your guide through wild animals – invites you to embrace vulnerability in the face of the unforeseen. It sharpens your senses and reconnects you with your intuition, as you become attuned to the slightest signs and sounds of the bush. In this experience, you’re humbled: you find yourself woven back into the fabric of nature, taking your place among other species as the African wilderness recalibrates your sense of rank and status.
Field guides make sure that all participants feel relaxed, although being out of one’s comfort zone is part of the experience. This close-up contact with the wilderness will give you memories you’ll keep forever.
Safety is paramount. The guides leading those walks are extremely qualified, have rifle handling and first aid certificates, and have logged hundreds of hours of walking in dangerous game areas.
As you’ll make your way through the bush, you will stumble upon sightings that we wouldn’t normally look out for on a game drive. Your guide will teach you how to identify animal tracks, tell you about birds and insects and the local geology, and share the conservation challenges they face. You will kneel down and watch in awe as a herd of elephants or buffalos passes.
By the time you retire to your canvas tent for the night, with the smell of dust and campfire on your clothes, you may hear an owl calling and the faint laugh of hyenas in the distance. Civilisation and technology totally forgotten.
A très bientot !