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patience is the key

on Mar 24, 2015

For first time safari goers the main goal is mostly to experience as much of the African bush as possible in a short space of time. Which makes perfect sense as who wouldn’t like to see the Big 5 on a trip to Africa and tick as many boxes as you can? This phenomena is completely normal as people have the urge to see those animals as for many folks it is a once in a lifetime experience. I always tell my guests that being on safari doesn’t only mean seeing these magnificent creatures, but also observing their behaviour, learning about them and with a little bit of patience being part of a unbelievable sighting that you wouldn’t have had if you were already thinking about which animal is next and setting of looking for it.

Kosie Lategn Elephant Blog2

One of my elephant sightings I enjoyed the most really showed that patience really pays off. Seeing a herd of elephants drinking water is always special, but being eye level with them was something spectacular. This is possible by sitting in one of our hides at a waterhole and waiting for them to arrive. It was a very hot day and temperatures where still soaring as the elephants slowly started making their way towards the waterhole. After explaining to my guests what we “think” was going to happened (as animals don’t always read the books) we followed them patiently for almost two hours! We drove up ahead and entered the hide as soon as it was a certainty they would go for a drink and we had an unbelievable sighting with about 30 elephants all around us while we were safely concealed inside the hide. This was a feeling that will stay with my guests and I for a long time.

Kosie Lategn Elephant Blog

Being patient is not only applicable to having good elephant sightings, but is the same with all the animals out here. We are on African time and most importantly on the animal’s time. They will decide when they are ready to move, wake up or do something. That is what makes special sightings special, as that is out of our hands. As guides we can interpret what might happen, but we can’t control an animal and have no idea what’s going on in their heads. Waiting at a hyena den for hours for one glimpse of the little ones or watching sleeping leopards just to witness them mating takes a lot of patience, but is worth every second not seeing much. Spending some time with cheetahs normally pays off as well as they can go from not doing much to jumping on logs or climbing on termite mounds.

We as guides are not magicians so if an animal decides he is not moving for 4 hours there is nothing we can do about it. This is the time to take in where you are, the scenery, smells, and the surroundings of the animal and savour the moment before moving on. With that being said some of my best photos were of sleeping animals and by just using their surroundings one can still, without you knowing, get some photos that some photographers wait years for.

So next time you are on safari don’t only try to look at animals on your drives, but observe and experience as much as you can of the bush and the animals. If possible spent some time with these beautiful specimens and you never know you might have the sighting of a lifetime.

  • By Kosie Lategan (Bush Lodge Ranger)
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