African Paradises

ARRIVAL AT BUFFALO CAMP

After a flight on a small plane and a short transfer in the reserve's big jeeps, we finally arrive. It's Buffalo Camp, nestled in the green of the bush and tall trees. We'll be staying in large tents resting on platforms supported by long stilts, connected to each other and to the common areas by wooden walkways. Cheerfulness spreads through the group, there are twelve of us, 3 couples and 6 singles, and soon the cheerfulness turns into hilarity when the tents are assigned, each one named after an animal. With amused astonishment, I discover that mine is the elephant tent, and the jokes fly amid general laughter!

Afternoon at Buffalo Camp....the adventure begins..!

After lunch we set off for the first photo safari. Already knowing the characteristics of the winter climate in southern Africa, I get organized with my clothing: sweater, windbreaker, wool hat. We head to the exit of the Camp where two off-road vehicles driven by pretty good-looking rangers are waiting for us. I arrive, as usual, at the last moment and discover, with pleasure, that two seats have been left in the upper part of the vehicle (they're tiered seats, so that everyone can have an excellent view). I climb up and sit next to my Neapolitan friend, who immediately teases me about my bulky photographic equipment. We're thrilled, it will be a night safari, it's 4:00 pm and sunset comes early around here, by 6:00 pm it's already dark. We notice that blankets have been placed at our feet, we wonder what they're for... our curiosity will soon be satisfied.

After a short drive, we start putting on our windbreakers, swapping our cotton caps for warm wool hats, and the sun is still high on the horizon. We race incessantly along these tracks through the bush, the characteristic vegetation of the place. Our ranger speaks only English (but there's a good translator in the group) and communicates, via radio, with the other off-road vehicles in the reserve, to exchange information about animal sightings. The first encounter is with a herd of buffaloes. We keep a safe distance, because while a single specimen is very dangerous, a herd represents an authentic suicide mission... but the "little beasts" are calmly chewing their cud and barely spare us a glance. Making as little noise as possible, we leave this large group to head into a clearing where rhinos have been reported... there they are...

you can barely make them out in the thick trees, it's a mother rhino with her... yes... little one (so to speak, it must already weigh 800-900 kg). We stay silent, watching them, photographing them and filming them, with nervous little laughs, jokes to reassure ourselves. We're now a short distance from the animals and a charge from them would be anything but pleasant, in fact I'd say decidedly dangerous. Shortly after, a third specimen joins the pair, a superb male. The ranger tells us he's the "dad" of the little one. We stay a little longer to watch them, then move on. Our goal is to find lions. It won't be an easy task, they have an enormous territory and move constantly. During the day they laze under trees and among bushes, taking long naps, especially if they have a "full belly." The vehicles race on relentlessly...

we stop only for 20 minutes on a large dirt track overlooking a treeless expanse... it's already dark, but not the darkness you'd normally think of... there are no lights for miles, but we're equipped with two powerful spotlights, and the off-road vehicles illuminate each other. We get out of the vehicles to pee (behind the jeep), smoke and drink something. There's a spectacle I absolutely don't want to miss and I want to admire it my own way... I climb onto the off-road vehicle, lie down on the last seat, the highest one, and remain, hypnotized, gazing at the sky... the two spotlights have been turned off, now it's pitch black. I can't find the right words to describe what I see... there are billions of points of light, the impression is that the sky can't contain them all.

There's a constellation towering in the central part, the beautiful one of Scorpio, but you can also see the Southern Cross, two constellations visible only in the southern hemisphere. I'd like to stay the whole night, lying on this seat, losing my gaze in infinity, savouring the silent atmosphere of this enchanted place! We set off again, the lions await us, somewhere remote in the park. We're so intent on scanning the thick trees that we barely notice the off-road vehicle slowing down and then descending into a small clearing, and there... illuminated by the spotlights, with the emotion that grips us, we make out two lions, or rather a male and a female, comfortably lying down. The position of our vehicle is certainly not the best, we're facing the pair, to frame them well I have to lean out to the side...

they're beautiful, I can't get used to the sight of them, even though I've seen so many... I make a comment that sparks hilarity in the group: - "now I'll get down and go closer to them" - and I probably would, I'm so excited that not even the possible danger of being attacked would stop me. Surely they would be the ones to run away, they don't waste energy attacking unless they actually feel in danger; that energy is for hunting. Shortly after, bored, they get up and slowly disappear into the thick trees. The magical evening isn't over yet. Not long after, another very interesting stop. On the shore of a lake there are two large groups of hippos and elephants, but the sight of the lions has released all the accumulated tension, and after a brief stop we set off again.

The blankets, which at the beginning were diligently folded at the bottom of the seats, literally cover us from head to toe... it's intensely cold and the speed of the vehicle makes it worse... it's 8:15 pm... we're about ten kilometres from Buffalo Camp, so we quickly head home. A succulent dinner awaits us and will be served in the boma, an outdoor enclosure with a huge fire in the centre, with small tables arranged in a circle around it. A very sweet young man is the extremely skilled cook of this camp, he spoils us with his delicacies, and he's happy when he sees us voraciously wolf everything down. After dinner we stay to drink coffee and smoke, comfortably sprawled in the wicker armchairs, still outdoors, telling each other the adventures of the day.

We're in 2 vehicles, six per side, and comments from one vehicle to the other aren't easy, also because it's best never to speak loudly, especially in the presence of animals. Tomorrow morning a rude awakening awaits us... it will be a photo safari at dawn... wake-up at 4:30... so after repeated goodbyes and goodnights, everyone goes to their own tent. The tents are spacious and cosy, but freezing cold. Instead of undressing and putting on my pyjamas, which are light knitwear anyway, I start putting on a tracksuit and a sweatshirt, put on my wool hat and quickly slip under the covers, literally chattering my teeth, thinking that fortunately I won't have to stay there long, it's midnight, in a little over four hours I'll be up again. In the morning I discover that the bed has an electric blanket... damn...!

Sunrise at Buffalo Camp - the adventure continues....

4:30 am - The usual zombies gather to drink coffee and tea, accompanied by pastries, cursing the cold they've endured, but laughing anyway at how we're dressed. We climb onto the off-road vehicles and everyone takes a providential blanket to wrap themselves up completely. We have to wait for the sun to rise and start warming the air before we can get rid of the blanket and some clothing. We're dressed in "layers of an onion": cotton t-shirt, sweater or sweatshirt, windbreaker and wool hat, some even have gloves. We set off, the vehicle races along quite fast and the cold wind penetrates everywhere. The sky takes on a faint pink hue... suddenly the sun peeks out far away on the horizon... sunrise and sunset are sudden here in Africa...

in a few minutes it's already in the sky in all its splendour! After countless turns, we finally arrive at a vast expanse with trees that, for the season, it's African winter and the presence of numerous elephants, they look like so many skeletons raising their arms to the sky. A herd of elephants is capable of eliminating dozens of trees in a short time... once they've eaten the leaves, they start pulling off the bark and practically seal the plant's death. Many of these lie on the ground, felled by their mighty strength. Precisely in this vast clearing with sparse trees, there's a herd of elephants diligently breaking off the thinner branches with their trunks and then eating them. They're not as nutritious as the leaves, but they have to feed themselves somehow.

There are little ones, in particular one is a short distance from the jeep, playing with a branch, twirling it with its small trunk, it must be an exercise to refine the use of its trunk. Suddenly one of the animals starts approaching our vehicle... the ranger tells us to stay calm, but meanwhile he chambers a round in the rifle that is always resting on the dashboard. It's a young male, his goal is to sniff us to understand what strange animal our jeep is. Today I'm sitting in the middle seat and his big head almost brushes against me... someone is scared, Laura in particular, her partner, Marco, jokes and, having taken off his cap, motions as if he wants to place it on the elephant's big head! We film non-stop, it's rare for them to come this close. After several laps around the vehicle, he seems fed up with it and starts to move away, doing so by distancing himself about 20 metres.

The ranger starts the engine, but he, with incredible speed, retraces his steps... and blocks us again. This "little game" seems to amuse him, in fact we too are more excited than scared. He moves away again, but keeps an eye on us, shakes his head several times and assumes a very funny pose, crossing his front legs, as if he wanted to make us understand that he's in no hurry and could stay there the whole day. The ranger makes another attempt, but after a few metres our friend catches up with us again and blocks us. I've watched the footage many times, heard the comments from all of us, the jokes and the continuous puffs emitted by the elephant. We're about a hundred metres from the track, we've gone in among the trees, so it's hard to reach the dirt track, slaloming between the plants.

Nevertheless the ranger engages reverse and quickly reaches the track, but the elephant doesn't give up and with a very rapid run, catches up with us and plants himself in front of the jeep, barring our way. About a hundred metres away, on the track, there's the other vehicle, our companions calmly watching a small group of elephants with their calves pass by. They haven't realized, given the distance, what's happening to us. The "young man" keeps us constantly under surveillance, as soon as he hears and sees a small movement of the vehicle he approaches suspiciously and sniffs, with his trunk, the front of the jeep. Now he's slightly nervous, in fact, he's starting to flare his big ears, a sign that he wants to attack. Our options aren't many, in truth only one... flee, reverse, along the track hoping to catch him by surprise... and this is the decision the ranger makes.

We speed off, chased by the elephant, who evidently wasn't caught by surprise, he chases us flaring his big ears and trumpeting. We leave him at the start of an uphill stretch, almost with sadness, with the regret of having lost a friend. We laughed, foolishly, at his behaviour, but we well know he wanted to defend his territory and his females from our innocent intrusion. We return to the lodge, an abundant breakfast awaits us, from sweet to savoury, our very sweet chef has even prepared liver with onions, which certainly doesn't stay on the serving platter...

everyone helps themselves twice, even those who in the morning go to work after drinking just a cup of coffee! We stay at the Camp to refresh ourselves, to explore its surroundings and observe animals that roam freely in the common areas: there's a dik-dik, a tiny antelope, adopted by the ranger who doubles as chef, there's also a warthog, the famous Pumbaa, for those who have seen the animated film "The Lion King," and near a magnificent hammock a male Kudu, an antelope, roams freely. He's a beautiful specimen, we photograph him without getting close, we want him to feel safe and not run away. Our two rangers give a little theoretical lesson on spotting tracks, the droppings found on the trails and how to determine how long ago the animals passed through the area. After lunch and a post-lunch nap, oops... a restorative snooze... Hehe...

we meet again for tea, served with a magnificent chocolate cake that the chef insistently wants us to taste. Our resistance, justified by a: "I'll have gained a frightening amount of weight by the time I return from this trip," soon crumbles and we quickly polish off our slice of cake, which is simply exquisite!!

We're thrilled to the max...off to the night safari

At 4:30 pm we set off for the night photo safari, the usual clothing, the same euphoria, everyone has a feeling it will be a fruitful outing. We race incessantly along the dirt tracks, moving away from the camp to reach the places where there have been other sightings of big cats. Suddenly over the radio we hear the agitated voice of the ranger from the other off-road vehicle, a group of lionesses has been spotted and there are cubs too. We head to the spot, with the spotlight incessantly scanning the thick trees along the sides of the track, and that's where it suddenly frames something that makes the vehicle slow down... yes..! there's no doubt... there's a lioness walking no more than 20 metres away. I aim the camera, zoom in and follow her the whole way...

she's calm, she covers roughly 50 metres, then comes out of the thick trees to the edge of the track and crosses the road no more than 10-15 metres from the jeep, she's reaching the group, no doubt about it! The emotion leaves us speechless, we hold our breath watching her until she disappears along a small path. We move about 20 metres, the ranger turns off the engine and starts rotating the spotlight 360°; there are lions nearby, he whispers, telling us to be quiet. I'm sitting on the lowest part of the vehicle and I'm carefully looking among the big bushes... suddenly out of the corner of my eye I see a shadow pass next to the off-road vehicle, I quickly lower my gaze and the emotion takes my breath away, I stammer: "she's here".. a lioness is passing 30 cm from the edge of the jeep...

I whirl around, no one has noticed her, they were all intent on watching another lion slowly emerging from the darkness behind us: it's a young male, you can see the beginnings of a mane, and he gives us another thrill, passing a few steps from us... what an evening...! Now the spotlight illuminates only one precise spot, where the whole group is, you can glimpse the cubs too and there's certainly a male, his roars break the silence reigning around us. It's time to set off again, it's 8:40 pm... we've even gone past dinner time, we're so excited that we easily endure the cold wind produced by the moving vehicle. It was a magnificent encounter, we couldn't have hoped for better! It will remain indelible in our memory!

Unfortunately, moving on again.....

Africa is one of the last paradises for flora and fauna, a journey into nature, a return to our origins, to the land that saw us born. You taste freedom, seeing it also in the eyes of the animals that live in the splendid national parks, which were created for the purpose of protecting them, so as not to have to tell our grandchildren, in the future, what an elephant looked like or how fascinating it was to watch a lion hunting.

Happy travels to everyone