When doing ministry in Swaziland, every once in a while a break is necessary. So, one evening aft
er we’d finished ministry for the day, we went to take a walk on the wild side.
Just a few minutes up the road from where we were staying is a game reserve known as Nifsala Safaris. Our plan was simply to show up and walk on the property in hopes of seeing some neat animals before we were either tired or kicked out for wandering in unannounced. This wouldn’t be possible at all if there were predatory animals on the reserve, but the big cats were taken away. Apparently, during a birthday party for a teenager and his friends, the boys taunted a lion until the lion leaped over one of two eleven foot high fences in an attempt to see how fierce the taunters were face to face.
Anyway, the seven of 
us walked past the fat crocodile in his pen and started down one of the paths into the reserve. Almost immediately we saw several ostriches running through the African brush. These beautiful birds were quite the sight! Shortly thereafter, we came across some warthogs running across the street and disappearing into the bushes nearby.
Venturing deeper into the park, we came across a group of wildebeasts foraging. When the animals took notice of us, they quickly formed a circle. The ones closest to us began stomping their hooves and moving their heads up and down. It didn’t take a zoologist to know that they were giving us one – and only one – warning. We slowly backed away, and when the beasts no longer felt threatened, they ran off in the opposite direction. What I thought was a small group turned into a stampede of at least 100. Thank goodness they changed their minds about us.
Following the path further, we came across the crown jewel of our visit – several giraffes and some zebra munching on some greens. Although they noticed us early on, we slowly approached them until we were quite close. (I’m not good with distances, so just check out the pictures). We just stood and watched each other, both the giraffes and humans in awe of each other. It was truly a magnificent sight, watching giraffes from so close as the sun began to set.
As we prepared to move on, one of the park managers happened to drive by and saw us. He asked if we had made reservations to be there, which we answered no. He smiled and told us that had we called, he could have arranged a guide for us. As he told us to make our way back to the entrance, he warned us that the octriches and warthogs are in mating season, and can be quite aggressive 
if their territory is invaded. We all walked back to the entrance with smiles of our own, knowing that God had kept us safe and shown us some cool stuff along the way. 🙂
