We woke up at 6:30am and took a taxi to the bus station. We found the combi (van looking shuttle) that went to Rustenburg, South Africa, and got in. There was only one person on the combi at that point, and they don’t leave until it’s full. It’s not like America where there are timed stops, so we waited for 4.5 hours, leaving Gaborone at 12:30pm.
We arrived in Rustenburg around 4:30, got on another combi that took us to the gate of the campsite. We walked for about 20 minutes on a road that eventually took us to the reception area. We finally checked in at 6:30 and walked over to the restaurant for dinner. We were served a three course meal (included in the package we bought) which was so good! After, we went to our tents (probably not a tent you’re picturing-it was so nice) and went to bed at 9 ish. We had an early morning ahead.
The next morning we woke up at 4:45am and quickly got ready. We walked to the reception area to get into a vehicle that left at 5:30. The driver introduced himself and welcomed us to the safari, and we drove through the gate into the open wildlife of South Africa.
Within the first five minutes of driving, we saw 3 giraffes! At that moment I thought, this is going to be an awesome safari.
The rain started to come down at that point, and for the next hour and a half, we only saw impala and jackals (very common animals to see). All of the animals were apparently staying out of the rain. Awesome.
I started to pray that the Lord would show us more. I specially kept thinking about lions since they are rare to see, even in a safari. I’m sure it probably sounds like I’m over spiritualizing our adventure day, but the whole time I actually had a peace, knowing we’d see something eventually. I sat in silence most of the ride, looking out of the safari truck, praying.
We drove by some more impala, and all of the sudden the driver stopped and reversed the vehicle. He saw two rhinos a little further out and pointed them out to us. They were hiding behind some trees, so it didn’t feel that exciting.
The driver was telling us that this was a bad day “in the office” for him, continuously commenting on how the rain was affecting the amount of animals we saw. I honestly felt so bad for him. I could tell he really wanted to give us a great experience.
In that next instance, he quickly shushed all of us. He had heard something. We heard a faint noise in he distance. He perked up, telling us it was the sound of a male lion.
“Let’s go find them.” He turned the truck around and we headed in the direction of the sound.
We drove for a bit, not seeing anything in the open fields. My teammate Ethan leaned forward in his seat behind me and pointed out of the truck on our left. “Do you see that? What is that?” I couldn’t see anything. I strained my eyes. Still nothing. He kept pointing and instructing where to turn my gaze.
And then I saw it, something moving far out in the field. We couldn’t even make out what it was. It blended in well with the field. Ethan spoke up and told the driver what he saw, and he and confirmed that it was a female lion. Yes!
We drove up further to get parallel with her in the field and watched. She was really hard to see, but the driver was hopeful that she would start to walk this way. We eventually saw that there were baby cubs with her. BABIES!
As we drove further, one of the other passengers saw something up ahead on our right side. Another female lion walked calmly alongside our vehicle, patiently following some wildebeests. She was hunting.
She crossed the dirt road over into the field where the other female was. They greeted each other, rubbing heads together. Basically a Lion King moment! They then started walking toward the wildebeests again. Every now and then the wildabeests would run a little further away, but the lions never attacked. Just slowly walked after them. It seemed like they were taunting them, honestly.
The driver informed us that the element of surprise was gone, so the females were no longer interested in hunting. However, the cubs still wanted to. They would run up in front of the the females and chase the wildebeests. The females would slowly run up to them and playfully jump on them, as if they were telling the cubs to let the prey go. It was so cute, I have to admit!
On the way back to the front of the park, we saw multiple zebras and giraffes. At one point we saw 15 giraffes all in one spot. It was truly amazing.
It’s moments like this that remind me of the Father’s love. In what seems like a day that doesn’t
matter in the Kingdom, the Lord still revealed Himself to me. It felt silly to pray to see a lion, yet God still came through. The chances of seeing a lion in the first place is so rare, and we saw 2 and their 4 cubs on rainy day.
Follow my personal blog at https://lindseykappler.wordpress.com/blogposts/
