If you haven’t seen a river crossing during the Wildebeest Migration in person, no documentary will ever do it justice. Trust me. It’s akin to trying to capture the enormity of the Himalayas in a photograph or the feeling of flight from a video. Crossings are unlike anything you’ve seen before. Each is unique and […]
If you’ve never been on a safari, chances are you’re not really sure what takes place a game drive is like. Sure, you know you go out into the wild looking for animals, but there’s no way to say exactly what happens, mainly because it’s never the same. And THAT’S what makes the experience so […]
There are moments when the stars align and everything comes together and this is one of them. Above us, lounging in the crook of a sprawling jackalberry tree, an adult female leopard is bathed in golden light and to my delight, she knows how to work the camera. I can tell, it’s going to be […]
Updated June 2021 The King of The Masai Mara It was he, Scarface the lion (Scar), curled up like a housecat in the grass, his thick dew-covered mane sparkling in the sun. His brothers Hunter, Sikio, and Morani were nearby; they also slept. The Four Musketeers, known for their prowess and savagery, instead looked precious where […]
It’s mid-morning, and I’m crossing the long, raised boardwalk leading to the island, my excitement building with each plank left behind. I’ve come to Duba Explorers Camp in Botswana, part of the Great Plains Conservation portfolio, one of the best camps in the Okavango Delta, and one of my first stops on an eight-day safari. […]
Learning about Lions Across the dimly lit tent stands Dr. Philip “Flip” Stander, the world’s foremost expert on Namibia’s famed desert-adapted lions, looking every bit the grizzled, stereotypical scientist who’s spent most of his life alone in the field––sun-baked skin, hair askew, a scraggly beard, and a lanky frame all elbows and knees. He stands […]
It’s my second day in Palmwag, Namibia, a reserve along the Skeleton Coast. As Bons, my guide, three rangers and I walk across an endless plain of rocks I replayed the rules for tracking black rhinos in my head: 1. Be very quiet. 2. If something goes awry, do whatever the rangers tell me. It […]
When I was on my first safari, I wondered, what do cheetahs eat? They’re big cats, but not half as big as a lion or a leopard. What’s large enough to keep one fed but small enough to be manageable during a hunt? My curiosity in cheetah cuisine was soon answered: gazelle. Sure they eat […]
It was the end of our second hour driving down a pot-hole infested, rattle-the-teeth-out-of-my-head dirt road in Tanzania, and I was starting to feel as if my body was going to shake apart. We were on our way to visit the Hadzabe tribe, also known as Bushmen, living on the outskirts of the Ngorongoro Crater, […]