Wednesday 10 January 2018

Overwhelmed With Emotion

Technically our first safari was last nights river cruise,where we saw tons of hippos. But this morning was our first game drive. I have no words to describe the experience but I will try.

I felt very amazed during the boat cruise watching all the pods of hippos in the water. It was a surreal feeling, definitely a 'wow, we are in Africa moment.' Also a very big eye opener - that for large animals, zoos are not even close to recreating their environments in a meaningful way. We also saw crocodiles and monkeys. It was nice that the guide made a point of pointing out the different birds to us too, without Mom having to ask. I am sure her blog will feature the eagle and kite we saw soon, though her camera wasn't working so Jason was in charge of taking the photos. I was very content using our little travel binoculars.

We continued this for the game drive today - Jason with the camera and me with binocs. I am surprised that I am not more into the photography but I like to grab a few shots on my phone and then just watch the animals - they are truly mesmerizing. Right from the first sighting it was like a shot to the heart. I was moved to tears on numerous occasions from the awe of these amazing animals.

From my phone!!!

The zebra look so different than expected when viewing them up close in the wild, the elephant was beyond impressive, seeing monkeys play or the various 'deer-like' species, at each new spot I could have stayed and watched all day. It was a beautiful and overwhelming three hours, and I can't wait for our next one in two days time. Already trying to figure out how to fit more drives in before we have to head home.

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