As promised, I thought I would describe the experience that I had going to a game park/safari yesterday with a group of sixteen people. Given the cool and wet experience we had in a cold front, it was probably not the best day to be out and about in an open truck exploring the ground, but the lack of pleasure we got from the weather was more than counterbalanced by the enjoyment we got from being able to see various animals in action in a way that is not always possible. Wild animals do not perform on command, and as it happens we had some excellent experiences to see animals in action behaving rather normally in a sizable space that was able to support them well.

In some ways, the Botlierskop experience at the Village Lodge starts before one even arrives. To get to the lodge, one goes through a small town and then at traffic circle one hangs left and departs the paved road for 2km or so until one arrives at the lodge. The lodge itself opens with a store that offers various themed products and then there are seats where guests can dine. We had a fine lunch before starting the safari ride, and during that time we signed the waiver stipulating that we would not sue in case of a negative experience with the wild animals of the park (more on that shortly) and that we were are that this experience had risks. After that we set down to eat and drink. I had a somewhat spicy butter curry chicken, while others in our group had venison, pizza, or salmon salads, from what I could see. Everyone appeared to be satisfied with their choices, and between the meal and the safari the price was about $45 or so per person, by no means an excessive price for the experience and even what many of us (myself included) would consider an extreme bargain.

After eating and signing the waiver, we were off to fill up a truck with the people in our group and depart. People made various statements about which animals they would prefer to see and that determined the general order of how we drove about the 6000 hectares or so of the preserve along steep and bumpy tracks. When we first entered the game park, we saw a giraffe in the distance and then saw impala and wildebeests closer up. We saw a denim bustard who, apparently attracted by my mother’s jacket, engaged in a mating ritual where he puffed out his chest, even if the female of his species flew away early in the process. We saw a hippo in the water, but he was rather shy and we were content to look from afar. Later on we saw the male giraffe close up until the sound of a parka in the wind startled it, along with some cape buffalo and gnus and waterbucks, along with zebras who were using the giraffe as a spotter for predators.

This turned out to be wise, as when we entered an area of the park where cheetahs were located, we were able to see cheetahs very close up, only a few feet away from our truck, and the cheetahs made two hunts, the first of which failed to bring down any wildebeests but manage to startle the herd, and the second which went a bit of distance and may have been successful but was in a valley on the grounds that was hard to find. The mother went from 0 to 60 amazingly fast and was training some juvenile cheetah on how to hunt and it was exciting to see them in action. After that we thought to see some lions, but apparently the lions were in a difficult spot to reach, and as it was getting a bit late at this point, we decided to see the elephants instead, which turned out to be a wise decision. We managed to see a male and female ostrich, the male doing sentinel duty while the female laid down. We also saw some rhinos who were quite light on their feet with glorious horns, and eventually saw the herd of elephants being playful with each other, which was an enjoyable way to finish the experience. Our safari trip had gone about half an hour overtime, but no one is going to complain about getting more animals for one’s experience, or about spending an extra period of time seeing a group of elephants play fight and use their trunks to spray dust on themselves. One might pay far more and get far less when it comes to seeing animals.