Safari

Ok, I am back from the wilderness! Survived the Bush!
Actually had a very nice and relaxing weekend. The most dangerous part was probably the road to the lodge and the most scary animal was the ones I had in my hut.

The way there was really not that bad actually. The lodge is just 70 km outside Harare, along the highway to Bulawayo so it was very ok. But still you get a little bit worried when you all of a sudden see a warning sign with the text “Deadly Hazard” on it, whitout telling you, where, when and what to expect… Well, I still don’t know..

There are also other sings that makes you wonder. For example, almost all busses have this interesting sign on the back:

The text reads: Driver instructed to stop at rail crossing.
Don't know if that is supposed to make you feel safe...





Once arrived at the logde I was informed about Geoffry the Giraffe. He was born and raised at the lodge, but was now living with his mates in the bush, but sometimes he remembers his childhood and returns to the lodge. “He is nice, but sometimes he chases people and he can kick hard, so if you can avoid him it is better to do that!” Ok, but what if I cannot?? How do you treat an attacking giraffe!?!?

Geoffery the Giraffe



At the lodge I did some canoeing, horse riding and safari by car. Very nice! I saw zebras, impalas, giraffes (not only Geoffry), wilderbeasts and some other animals. They don’t have carnivores there, except for some lions that they keep in captivity and crocodiles they have for breeding. Therefore it was very safe. “No dangerous animals!” Fine! They didn’t tell me about the spiders and the rats in my house!! On Saturday I wondered why my choclate bar was on the floor. I looked at the open side but could not see that it looked any different from how I left it, so I took a piece and put it back on the bedside table. Then I went out on my balcony. After a while I heard some sounds from the inside of my hut. Until then I had thougt that all sounds I heard came from geckos or birds on the outside of the straw roof, but now it definetly came from the inside. I looked in and saw a BIG fat rat running away. Then I had a second look at the chocolate bar and noticed that the little bastard had opened it from the other side and eaten quite some. The taste of chocolate that I still had in my mouth was not so nice anymore…

That night when I went to bed I saw that there was not only a big fat spinder on the outside of my mosquito net, but one on the inside too. Was not too happy about that. Everytime the rat woke me up that night I also had to have a check on where that spinder was. I was most worried when I did not see it…


My hut, the one to the right












The old nags we were riding. I rode the brown one in the middle, Joka.