Gondwana Safari
Coming to Africa, I was most looking forward to being surrounded by nature. I grew up in New York City, so my experience with wildlife was restricted to the Bronx Zoo and Central Park. Our two day safari this weekend at Gondwana Game reserve, a 5 hour drive from our apartments in Cape Town, allowed me to experience nature in a way I will not soon forget.
We arrived on Saturday afternoon, and after a deliciously warm lunch, we all piled on layers and broke up into groups to start the drive. Packed together with warm blankets strewn across our legs, we drove through winding roads with the backdrop of rolling mountains behind us. We first stopped to observe two hippos lazily lying in the grass, apparently recovering from a lion attack that had left them scratched up but not severely injured. We then rolled up on a herd of zebras and learned that female zebras are black with white stripes and male zebras are white with black stripes (still not sure if this is fact or a silly riddle told to us by our tour guide).
The most anticipated animal sighting was the lion (our tour guides favorite animal). We were warned that this was extremely difficult, and that lion sightings only happened every one out of six tours. We ended up not being able to find them, but were cheered up when our driver stopped in a field and set up wine, beer, and snacks to enjoy while we watched the sunset. It was such a simple moment, wine warming our bellies, twilight making everything look beautiful and stoich, and all of my friends laughing and enjoying eachothers company. In reflection, I will remember less the exact memory, and more the unique feeling of absolute contentment, surrounded by the stillness of nature and positive energy of my peers.
