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My previous travels filming and photographing this fabulous continent just whetted my appetite for further explorations and adventures. Africa has dug its claws into me; its heady visual delights have enveloped me drawing me deeper into its soul. I’ve tasted Africa’s dust for myself, travelled its empty wilderness and witnessed the life and death drama played out on its great arenas. I’ve enjoyed the campfire camaraderie, ice-cold sundowners deep in the bush and scalding showers under the stars. I’ve survived the adrenalin-raising, heart-stopping charge of elephant, lion, leopard and rhino, the threat of aggressive hippo, the venom of a cornered puff adder and been surrounded by stampeding buffalo. I’ve walked with Bushmen, tracked with Shangaans, Masai and Samburu, canoed the Zambezi, ballooned over the Mara and microlighted over the Victoria Falls, yet I’ve left barely a track in the dust of this great continent.
For me, it’s the exciting world of Big Game Country that exerts the greatest fascination, drawing me back to the savanna, forest, floodplain and dense bush of Wild Africa - Safari Country.
Safari is such a simple word yet with an iconic almost talismanic power to ignite the imagination. The mere mention is enough to raise images of the magical world of the great explorers, travellers and hunters, the writers who described Safari so eloquently and the many wonderful photographers who have captured the taste and feel, the essence of this vast continent and the dizzying paradoxes of life on Safari.
Hot, dry, dusty days, sudden terrifying thunderstorms, rain sleeting down turning dry tracks into rivers, the water evaporating so fast in the heat it rises like steam from an Icelandic hot-spring. From sweltering days into bitter cold nights, the heat radiating into skies so clear you feel you can reach up and touch the stars. The discomfort and the luxury – bouncing around in a hard-sprung safari truck exposed to the elements, then sipping a sundowner so cold it burns your throat as it washes away the dust; exhausting days tracking dangerous animals, enjoying a gourmet dinner then slipping into dreamless sleep in a tent as comfortable as a Plaza suite.
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Waking before the sun warms the earth, showering in the open then relishing the first deliciously bitter coffee hunched around a still smouldering campfire, wondering what the day will bring. Images flood the mind; an immense dust-cloud created by a thousand buffalo on the move, the silence of a hunting leopard, the explosive acceleration of a cheetah nailing a desperate impala, the earth-shattering roar of lions, the mournful whoop of hyenas, the almost soundless march of elephants through the bush.
Though the word Safari was probably coined by Teddy Roosevelt in his legendary 1909 East African travels, the first person to establish the idea of Safari for simple pleasure, as opposed to adventure and hardship, was British army officer, naturalist and painter, Captain Cornwall Harris. In 1836 he led an expedition through Southern Africa whose sole purpose was to observe and paint the wildlife and landscapes encountered on his journey. Schooled in the high style of the British army mess in India, Harris established what was to become the classic Safari routine – rise at first light for a hearty breakfast, then setting out, stopping in the afternoon for a nap under a shady tree, followed by a return to camp for a lavish dinner accompanied by fine wines. This tradition was adopted by the colonial elite who settled Africa more than 100 years ago – legendary hunter Denys Finch Hatton promised his clients “spacious walk-in tents with high ceilings, crisp bed linen and fresh laundry daily, ice-cold cocktails with canapés followed by dinner at an immaculate table set with crystal and silverware”.
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Modern air travel has shortened the miles and made Africa more accessible, but it’s still that hard-sprung four wheel-drive safari truck that gets you into the very heart of the wilderness. The camps are still as Finch Hatton envisaged, luxurious, many reminiscent in style to the famous camps of the 20’s and 30’s, and the experience remains the same giant step into the unknown, the game as elusive, unpredictable and dangerous, the wilderness a trap for the unwary. It is still a mighty adventure.
Safari takes me to Africa’s greatest wildlife destinations seeking the perfect picture and experience, not specific species but rather like any traveller expecting the unexpected, not knowing what is around the next bush or bend, tracking through trackless lands in different countries with different habitats, vegetation and animals.
I’ve been working on a new book and need new material, experiences and images. Sue and I have spent a year planning this Safari. We’ve been in Town too long and the bush beckons! As always I feel a frisson of excitement, a sense of anticipation and I can’t wait to get on the plane.
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