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Safari life suits me. We usually get up at about 5:30, while it is still dark. I grope for my headlamp, dress quickly, arrange my sleeping bag and nightclothes so things look neat, and unzip the tent flap, ready to meet the day. Then I brush my hair and wander over to our kitchen area, where our guide, Mike, has already got water boiling for tea.
Shortly thereafter we either break camp and hit the road or spend the day exploring the area. If we are at camp we spend midday lolling about, snoozing, reading, talking, writing in our journals, washing clothes or washing ourselves.
The evenings are special in their own way. We are often treated to a magnificent sunset while drinking a relaxing sundowner. Meanwhile, Mike slaves away in the kitchen area, concocting amazing campfire meals with meat, fish or chicken, lots of fresh veggies and either rice, pasta or beans. White wine, red wine, beer, gin and tonic, coffee, tea, chips, cookies, popcorn, apples, bananas…there seems to be nothing that he has forgotten. We sit on the small camp stools, balancing the hot tin plates on our knees, warming our toes by the campfire.
After dinner we sit around the campfire and talk. We speak in low voices, staring as if hypnotized into the fire, exchanging bits and pieces of life stories. We share anecdotes and jokes, dreams and schemes. We bounce ideas back and forth, discuss philosophies and politics, re-live the day’s wildlife experiences. We talk about books, movies, music, Africa, Denmark and family.
A lion roars in the distance and our talk is arrested as we listen eagerly for more. Another night, the trumpeting sound of an elephant breaks the silence. The deeply black night sky is punctuated by glittering stars and the streak of the Milky Way. It is such a rarity and privilege to see this sight in our overly electrically lit up modern world.
The sun sets at about six and by nine p.m. we start heading for bed. Wearing our headlamps we look like miners in the dark as we fumble our way to a toilet before tucking into our sleeping bags. In my tent I read for a while before turning out the light. Then I am ready for the night’s sound show. This is when the action is! Lions hunting, hyenas drooling, elephants on the move, hippos grazing and bellowing and all manner of rustling, roaring, barking, whooping, tittering and grumping.
