I recently had the privilege of being taken out in a guided safari here at Sabi Sabi Bush lodge. Dressed in my “normal” or “casual” clothes and armed with my trusty camera, I headed to high tea in the afternoon before the safari. The urge to jump in and assist guests and staff was strong, and I had to stop myself a few times from jumping behind the bar or coffee station to help and tried to remember that I am a guest; old habits die hard, I guess.

As we headed out on safari it felt strange to sit in the back seat, instead of being in front of the wheel but I must say it felt great to sit back and relax, knowing that there was no pressure on my behalf to intervene or guide, and I just sat and listened to my colleagues. I was also able to focus on my photography and fiddle around with my camera settings and enjoyed experiencing how our guests feel while on safari.

It gave me a great insight into how it felt to be a guest, and the different angles at which photographs are taken from in their position was also interesting to see. On this safari experience as a guest, I wanted to let a few cats that we encountered out of the bag.

With clouds above us and mud below, we found a female cheetah and her cub resting in an open field while a storm brewed close to us.

Lions vocalise to mark territories and in the case of these two, to locate one another. It took us a while to figure out that there were two different lions calling but we eventually found them. We watched as they rubbed faces and played with each other, and I could only imagine that after all the rain we have been receiving that they had a long night of patrolling ahead of them to remark and re-establish their territory.

“Lions are an emblem of the dream of absolute power and as a wild rather than domestic animal, they belong to a world outside the realm of society and culture.” - Charles H. Hinnant

It is not every day that guides are able to be guests on safari, but it is something that I would recommend that others in the industry try to experience if they can, even if it is just once in a while.