Our African "JEEP"

 

OK, so they’re not really a jeep. But Land Rovers are similar in style and function… so they count for today’s post! And they abound on the African savanna. In fact, they sometimes seemed almost as numerous as the animals we came to see. One morning a leopard was spotted by one group climbing up on some rocks, and soon, seeing a stopped truck and noticing the excitement of the travelers on board, other vehicles converged on the area until in a matter of minutes there were no fewer than seventeen vehicles crowded around the one outcropping! But just as often you seem to find yourself totally alone in the wilderness, especially when experiencing trouble of some kind! Truly these 4-wheel drive vehicles prowl around over the grassland like some strange armored animal themselves, accepted by the other wildlife as part of the natural landscape. The wild kingdom in general doesn’t give them a second look, allowing visitors to drive up and view animal behavior and beauty in a truly spectacular way.

Safari tour companies number in the several hundreds, and the bigger ones have huge fleets of vehicles operating at any one time. Smaller companies like the one we used have far fewer trucks at the ready, and when one breaks down, as ours did on a couple of occasions, there may be none available to swap out with on a moment’s notice. Our tour was delayed (thankfully at the most beautiful campsite of the week) while our truck was in the shop one day. Company headquarters had even given the approval for the purchase of another vehicle so the safari could continue uninterrupted, but there were simply none available to buy. Thankfully the repairs were quickly accomplished and the delay was only a matter of hours, pleasurably spent sipping beer at a poolside bar overlooking some pretty incredible scenery. Our guide soon arrived, honking the horn as he drove up the hill so we could quickly load up and be on our way.

One wonder of the safari vehicles is that the top lifts up a number of feet so the occupants can stand to view and take open-air photos of whatever wildlife comes into view. There’s nothing like feeling the wind on your face as you drive along, camera or binoculars at the ready, too excited to sit down again only to hop up a minute later because something else of interest suddenly came in view! For those less inclined to move, huge sliding windows offered a fresh-air view from the seat. The trick was to remember to close down the roof and shut the windows whenever leaving the vehicle for any length of time, as monkeys would climb in and steal water bottles or any other possessions left out in the open.

Second in favor only to the lift-top construction of the vehicle was the incredible power strip hooked to the car battery – the only means we ever came across that week to power our multiple devices. With six cell phones and five camera batteries all needing to be charged on a regular basis, the strip was in constant use, and the passengers in the front pair of seats had the extra duty of making sure that in all the rough travel nothing came unplugged. All in all we were simply grateful for vehicles as rugged as the terrain we had to travel through!

 

“The Lord shall preserve they going out and thy coming  in from this time forth, and even for for evermore.”

(Psalms 121:8 KJV)