I think the craziest thing I’ve done on the race so far is let Pastor Jeff (our host for Zimbabwe) tell us that camping in a Safari would be totally awesome. Now before you think I didn’t enjoy my time let me say this is by far the coolest thing I’ve ever done in my life, but the part about sleeping in a tent in the middle of a Safari was a little much for me.
So here is the deal, in Zimbabwe we had the opportunity to go to Hwange National Park! We were all so excited, well all but Megan. Megan was the only voice of reason who thought of the practical issues of sleeping in our little tents in a Safari, like lions. Pastor Jeff assured us though that Lions won’t come eat us out of our tents they like the chase, but they may possibly bat at our tents because they are curious.
As we embarked on the safari we saw many animals our first hour into the park so we knew it was going to be a good day. We set up camp, ate lunch, and continued to go out and look for more animals in the late afternoon. It wasn’t until the night when things got interesting.
It was time to get settled into our tents and as I lay there next to sleeping Nettie looking out of our tent I began to think, “If a lion wants us, this tiny little piece of fabric is not going to keep him away from me.” Then I laid my head back down and heard a very loud roaring noise and was sure that there was a lion waiting right outside of the tent. The entire night I continued to hear purrs and growls and could not get to sleep. My heart was beating so fast the entire night and I continued to pray, “Lord please help me, please keep me safe, please help me sleep.” After a full night of fear and anxiety morning finally came. I told our host that I hated every minute of it with the lion outside of the tent. As soon as I said it Jeff informed me that it was no lion, but an elephant and even though they sounded like they were right outside my tent they were actually at the watering hold about a quarter mile from our site. See I didn’t know that elephants made sounds like growling but they do and he then informed me that if it was a lion I would have felt it in my soul. Needless to say the next night I slept in the truck.
The more we traveled around the safari though the more I thought about my night with the fear of the imaginary lion and how it kind of made me think a lot of the devil. He is good at being deceiving and at making us believe that he is closer, and more powerful then he actually is. He is good at making us feel anxious, and scared, and is so loud that it makes us think that the Lord doesn’t hear us. But the part about him that shows how much of a coward he is, is the fact that he tries the hardest in the dark, because he knows in the light he would be exposed for who he really is. (Which in this case was an elephant!)
So here is a few pictures and videos from our time in the safari!
