First Timers

Zebras

The very first time you travel into a game reserve in the company of a guide, you will almost certainly see your first zebra.

Hopefully you won't be as naive as the lady who pointed excitedly and cried out "What the hey is that thing?".

You may however be asked by the guide whether you know the difference between the males and females. When you reply "No" the guide will explain to you "the males are the black ones with the white stripes and the females are the white ones with the black stripes".

Whatever you do, don't stare intently and say "So. . . That would be a female then".

Hippos

When your guide tells you that a hippopotamus' favourite food is sausages, don't laugh, it's true. There is a tree whose fruit is known as a sausage, an enormous and extraordinarily heavy fruit that hangs down from the tree. Inedible to humans, this fruit is eaten by a large variety of the animals in the African bush.

On one occasion, while walking with a group, we came across a sausage tree where a branch lay broken on the ground. The guide explained that the branch must have fallen when the hippo had climbed the tree to reach the fruit the previous night. One or two of the party is still telling their friends that story!

Easy mistakes

Often animals roam territories close to lodges and become familiar to the guides and staff. Once there was a leopard named Marmalade (for reasons it would not be right to tell you!) who was well known round several camps.

On a night drive she was spotted and the guide told the party about her and her territory. The fascinated group of guests continued their drive but it was, as sometimes happens a very quiet night and they only saw a couple of nightjars, civets and a genet.

When they got back to camp the group were discussing their trip with the other guests and staff. "A quiet night", said one, "but we did get to see a leopard."

"No, we saw two leopards", insisted another of the guests, "one called Marmalade and one called Janet!"

home privacy about legal contact