Birdsong wakes bush dwellers early, so the best game viewing is usually done first thing in the morning, while everything is still cool and fresh. This is also when animals are at their most active. Then relax until the day cools down because game viewing in the mid to late afternoon is also great, especially for photography.

Game Drives

If you are staying at a luxury game lodge, you will be treated to game drives or walks early in the morning and in the afternoon. A game ranger, often with the assistance of a tracker, will drive you around in the bush and interpret what you see. Wild animals fear humans, and will often bolt at the sight of one, but are habituated to vehicles.

Having a guide will improve your bush experience immensely by deepening your understanding of wild animal behaviour and the ecosystem.

But you are closest to the wild when on foot. A guided walk through a national park is an experience not-to-be-missed, either for a few hours or a few days (walking safaris are so popular they are often booked up a year or more in advance). You may not see the Big Five as easily as in a vehicle, but the smells, sights and sounds are 10 times more vivid, and you will see a level of detail impossible to experience otherwise. You find yourself spending an hour with the small stuff, perhaps watching tiny ants trap their prey. Or, if you’re with a good tracker, he’ll be able to read you the morning news ‘written’ in the sand.

Each season in the bush has something to offer. Many people love the early spring, because the grass hasn’t yet grown tall and game viewing is easier. Late spring brings the first babies, wobbly little kudu calves, playful lion cubs and endearingly clumsy elephant babies.

Summer is green and lush – the vegetation is stunning and the bush thrums with life. 

Autumn and winter are generally dry, so the animals are easier to see because they congregate around waterholes more frequently.

The Big Five and Beyond

First time game viewers invariably seek out the Big Five: lion, leopard, elephant, rhino and buffalo. They are thrilling to see (sometimes scientists wryly refer to them as the ‘charismatic megafauna’).

But if they’re not around (and you do get those days), there is so much else. South African birds tend to be beautiful and plentiful, with over 800 species.

Don’t rush around in a frantic search. Look and enjoy. You could get sucked into the bush soap opera of a baboon troop at play, or meerkats foraging for beetles and scorpions, or a dung beetle struggling through the undergrowth with his load.

Stay at a waterhole for a while. There might be nothing on the programme when you arrive, but be patient. Soon, a black-shouldered kite may fly over on mouse patrol. A cautious kudu will pick its way through the bush. Some crows may begin bickering on a stump. Suddenly, a zebra waiting in the wings will shake his Trojan helmet mane and another dozen of his kind will appear at water’s edge.

Tips

• Do go slowly. The more sedate your pace, the more you see.

• Do dress comfortably. If you’re walking, wear subdued colours like khaki so that you blend into the bush.

• Never wander off on your own.

• Do take water, a hat and a jersey, depending how long you’ll be out. Remember that driving in an open vehicle in winter can be very cold.

• If you are in a malaria area (Lowveld of Mpumalanga incl. the Kruger National Park, and Limpopo - north-eastern areas and near the Zimbabwean and Mozambican borders - and on the Maputaland coast of KwaZulu-Natal, north-east as far south as the Tugela River), take prophylactics and at night, cover up with repellents and clothing.

• Don’t necessarily expect to see what you do in wildlife documentaries. Sometimes those scenes take months of patience to capture or require you to be in the right place at the right time – maybe partly the reason for repeat game visits.

• Don’t forget your binoculars and your camera.

Links

• It doesn’t really compare, but you might get an idea of how addictive game watching can be by logging onto www.wildcam.com or www.africam.com. They have a number of webcams trained on waterholes around South Africa and elsewhere

.