One of the most exciting parts of guiding is taking part in or conducting game drives. You never know what to expect and every game drive is different. Some are full of adrenalin-laden moments, others quieter. If guides meet up, they normally have a quick chat about their drives so far and if you might even hear them say “so far, nothing” or “it’s been a slow morning”. This simply means that they probably haven’t seen any of the big cats (lions, leopard or cheetah) or they didn’t see any of the Big 5 (which would then also include buffalo, elephant or rhino). I personally find this a bad habit, as it disregards any other, sometimes amazing sightings one can have with “general” game which includes giraffe, zebra, antelopes and the likes.
If you have been or will go on a safari that includes multiple game drives, there is a high chance that one of them will just not have as many sightings and that is normal. As a matter of fact, those drives should be what a guest can expect and then all sightings of a higher calibre (lions, elephants, etc.) are that more special. As a guide, I want to show my clients the beauty of nature and what it has to offer and every day, it offers something different. Sometimes, especially if a guide has been spoiled with great sightings of leopards or lions day after day, they get disappointed when they can’t find one for their guests and then say that they saw “nothing”.
I go out with the motto «let’s stop and admire the small things and we will be awarded with the big things» and so far, this has worked wonders for me and give the clients some incredible sightings, whereby the smaller things were just as memorable.
In December I joined clients for a few days at a private part of the Pilanesberg National Park. Already on the second game drive, we were spoiled beyond words with sightings. The first half hour was “quiet” but the guests were taking pictures of the amazing landscape in the ever-changing light of the rising sun and the clouds that started to build. Every beautiful tree or rock formation was being commented on and they were just in awe of the surroundings.
When the radio started to get busy, I knew that something was coming. The morning drive ended up being a Big 5 drive – meaning we started with a lion sighting and then saw buffalos, elephants, rhinos and ended with a leopard in a tree. Out of all the vehicles from the same lodge, we were the only ones to see the buffalos so we were the only vehicle that saw the Big 5 in one drive. At that lodge, this meant that the guide had to shave his head!! This is how rare it is to have such a drive! I made sure that the clients knew how lucky they were and that this is not common. I was slightly worried that they expected all drives to be like that.
The game drive the next morning was the complete opposite. We hardly saw any mammals, as they seemed to be hiding from us, and our coffee break lasted almost an hour and everyone was very chatty. The whole group was just happy with everything they saw. There was a great energy and everyone was relaxed. We packed up and decided to slowly make our way back to the lodge.
On the drive back I asked the guide to stop because I could hear this eerie call coming from the trees that lined the steep gravel road. Once the engine was off, everyone could hear it but it was hard to see where the call was coming from. I scanned the trees with my binoculars and then – “aaah there is a pearl spotted owlet!” I said ecstatically. “Where??” the rest immediately was on their binocs as well. Then another call from a different direction. We ended up spotting 3 juveniles, all sitting in trees of various distances to the car. It was hard to spot all of them and it took quite an effort to explain the exact spot of each of them to everyone in the car. Once everyone did, the excitement in the car was through the roof! Three owlets, what a find!
After lots of pictures, we were ready to go and that is when I spotted what looked like an adult, with a kill in its talons. Again, excitement to the max because this now turned into a rare sighting indeed. So rare, that the guide even radioed his colleagues for what we were looking at. After a few minutes, another game vehicle came and we explained the sighting to them and then left. We spent almost 45 minutes with these birds of prey, that’s how special it was.
Sometimes nature keeps the bigger animals hidden and you have to take what you can get and appreciate the small things. That owlet sighting was one of the best bird sightings I have ever had and I learned there what a juvenile pearl spotted owlet sounds like which I didn’t know before.
That afternoon the elephants came to visit us at camp and on the game drive we saw a black rhino …
Moral of the story: Take the time to admire the small things, the flowers, insects and birds as they all form part of the ecosystem in which we live in and include the bigger animals. This way, if you don’t see the lion or leopard, you will have memories of a great sighting of a chameleon or fork tailed drongo whereas if you constantly drive past these creatures, you will remember looking for lions but maybe not finding them. Which memory do you think will give you more joy in the end? Nothing is guaranteed on game drives and many guides at the beginning of a drive say “let’s see what nature offers us today” for a reason. They do so out of experience.
Author
Stefanie, originally from Switzerland, has been living in South Africa since 2014, where she trained as a safari guide and has been showing guests from all over the world the wonderful beauty of southern Africa ever since. She is an enthusiastic nature lover who can spend hours watching elephants feed or spotted hyenas play, making her own observations and theories of behaviour. Nothing excites her more than showing like-minded people the wonders of nature, big and small, and seeing their reactions and emotions.
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