CHUI SAFARIS
IS WALKING IN THE BUSH DANGEROUS
“Isn't walking in the bush dangerous?”
This is a common question asked every time you tell your guests about a walk in a wildlife area.
An afternoon walk might sound strange to most, but this afternoon had a lot in store for us.
We started walking at 14:30. After about 20 minutes we found fresh male lion tracks. We followed the tracks for 90 minutes and with the fresh tracks we also came across fresh lying areas, urine, dung and scratch areas.
These are all perfect signs to indicate that the lion may be around every corner.
After about two hours of walking, I spotted a white rhinoceros and calf in the distance. I told the guests to keep up so that we can get the sun and wind in our favour.
We left the lion tracks behind to view the white rhinoceros with the intention to again follow the tracks after viewing the rhinos, but this lion had a trick up his sleeves.
While our focus was on the white rhinoceros, the lion appeared behind a small Acacia Karoo, just 20m from where we were viewing the white rhinoceros. We stood still, not moving a mm , the lion got up and walked away from us. The guests were quiet; not making a sound.
“Stand still and stay behind me”
I told the guests. With their hearts beating out of their chests, they did exactly what they were told to do.
We lost visual of the lion as he was still moving away from us, we started moving to higher ground to see if we can regain visual on the lion. I stopped to listen, but nothing. I turned to the guests, pointed to the long grass and asked:
"Can you imagine a male lion just ran into this area and we can't even see him?"
As I said it, my back-up guide spotted the lion running away from us. We moved into the same area as the lion, but to no avail.
We also could not follow the white rhinoceros as they have moved into a thicket area.
We were losing sunlight and had to leave the area to get back to the vehicle.
On the way back to the vehicle we again came across the white rhinoceros, just 20m in front of us, standing and staring at us, I stopped in my tracks and luckily the guests froze, not moving a mm. The white rhinoceros female stared at us for a good minute or so, where after she ran after her calf to regain a safe distance from us.
Definitely some close encounters, but what a rush.
We walked into an open and safe area to chat about these incredible sightings, were after we returned to the vehicle satisfied with two amazing encounters of two of Africa’s big five.
