Strong Start to Safari

Monday afternoon we went on our first game drive in Tsavo. We got incredibly lucky early on when a massive family of elephants crossed the road right in front of us, completely unbothered and clearly running the show. The baby was impossibly cute, wobbling along beside the adults like a tiny tank still figuring out how legs work. We were already buzzing from that moment when Isaac noticed the giraffes had gone perfectly still — apparently a telltale sign that a predator might be nearby. Seconds later, Misozi Phiri gasped and pointed: a large leopard was making its way down the hillside with the calm confidence of an animal that knows it owns the place. Watching it move was surreal — beautiful, powerful, and just close enough to spike everyone’s heart rate.

After the thrill of seeing elephants and a leopard up close, our next mission became obvious: find a lion and round out the drama. At dawn, we were escorted from our tents to the vehicle, the morning air cool and electric with anticipation. Every rustle in the grass felt like it could be the moment, and the suspense alone made the ride unforgettable.

The afternoon drive brought a completely different set of surprises, including one of the trip’s most unexpected characters — the rock hyrax. At first glance it looks like a giant rodent with an attitude, but incredibly, it’s biologically related to the elephant. Nature, it turns out, has a sense of humor. We spent a moment just staring, trying to reconcile that information while the hyrax stared back like this was perfectly normal.

By the end of the day, our faces hurt from smiling and our brains were still catching up to everything we’d seen. Each drive felt like a front-row seat to a world running on its own rhythm — unpredictable, breathtaking, and occasionally hilarious.