Uploaded November 2024 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Today, our guide took us on a walk out in the bush. We generally were not allowed to get out of our safari vehicles in the middle of the bush so it felt odd doing so. We were comforted by the rifle our guide was carrying. He said it’s not for shooting animals but instead for scaring them off if needed.
We first came upon a set of horns lying on the ground. Our guide said these were horns of an antelope that was likely killed by a leopard or wild dogs.
Next we found a large termite mound, numerous in the Okavango Delta savanna. Our guide pointed out many small satellite mounds surrounding the main mound - some were several tens of yards away. These small piles of sand stood about 2 to 3 inches high and had a hole down the center and visible from the top. They looked like mini volcanoes. Our guide explained termites form these mini mounds when they clear dirt and sand from access tunnels they create. The termites use the tunnels to carry nutrients to and clean out debris from the main mound. When they’ve completed that portion of the tunnel, they close up the top of the mini mound with sand and dirt.
Our guide spotted and identified tracks from two animals on our walk. First was a pair of tracks from a serval wild cat. This cat has spots and a small head like a chetah but is much smaller, weighing between 20 - 40 lbs. Later, he located a large track from a hippopotamus. Since they are similar, he described how you can differentiate a hippo from a rhino track. The hippo has four toes while the rhino has three toes.
Next, we came upon a tall palm tree with fruit growing near its upper fronds. With a bit a levity, our guide demonstrated how elephants use their heads to push against the tree to shake lose the fruit making it fall to the ground and available to eat.
We then saw a small bush growing in the savanna which our guide identified as African wild sage. Rubbing it between our fingers produced a sage-like fragrance. He explained the plant is often used by locals as a mosquito repellent.
Toward the end of our hike, our guide came across a pile of impala dung which was in the form of small round balls, each about 1/2 inch in diameter. He picked one up and described how they were safe to eat because they're from a browser which eats only plants. It was during his explanation that a jackal raced behind him maybe 30 yards away, parallel to our view.
Not caring much about the jackal, our guide walked a few paces away from the group, used his foot to draw a line in the ground, walked back to our group, and described the dung-spitting game. You play by putting a dung ball in your mouth and trying to spit it over the line he drew. He then challenged us to play against him.
Not many of us were interested in playing the game but to their credit, three people in our group participated: Missy, Mike, and Wayne. We all winced a bit as they placed the dung balls in their mouth, but we quickly got into the spirit of the game. We were a pleasantly surprised to see Missy play since she seemed hesitant with some activities during earlier safari outings. Wayne appeared to revel in the sport as he spit his dung ball the farthest.
While we walked back to our safari vehicles, I’m confident three members of our group really wanted a breath mint.
This experience was part of The Great Southern African Safari organized by G Adventures working in partnership with National Geographic Expeditions.
You can read about the technical aspects of this trip in the 'Tech on Travel - The Africa Edition' blog post by Allison Sheridan at
podfeet.com/blog/2024/09/tech-on-travel-africa
Today, our guide took us on a walk out in the bush. We generally were not allowed to get out of our safari vehicles in the middle of the bush so it felt odd doing so. We were comforted by the rifle our guide was carrying. He said it’s not for shooting animals but instead for scaring them off if needed.
We first came upon a set of horns lying on the ground. Our guide said these were horns of an antelope that was likely killed by a leopard or wild dogs.
Next we found a large termite mound, numerous in the Okavango Delta savanna. Our guide pointed out many small satellite mounds surrounding the main mound - some were several tens of yards away. These small piles of sand stood about 2 to 3 inches high and had a hole down the center and visible from the top. They looked like mini volcanoes. Our guide explained termites form these mini mounds when they clear dirt and sand from access tunnels they create. The termites use the tunnels to carry nutrients to and clean out debris from the main mound. When they’ve completed that portion of the tunnel, they close up the top of the mini mound with sand and dirt.
Our guide spotted and identified tracks from two animals on our walk. First was a pair of tracks from a serval wild cat. This cat has spots and a small head like a chetah but is much smaller, weighing between 20 - 40 lbs. Later, he located a large track from a hippopotamus. Since they are similar, he described how you can differentiate a hippo from a rhino track. The hippo has four toes while the rhino has three toes.
Next, we came upon a tall palm tree with fruit growing near its upper fronds. With a bit a levity, our guide demonstrated how elephants use their heads to push against the tree to shake lose the fruit making it fall to the ground and available to eat.
We then saw a small bush growing in the savanna which our guide identified as African wild sage. Rubbing it between our fingers produced a sage-like fragrance. He explained the plant is often used by locals as a mosquito repellent.
Toward the end of our hike, our guide came across a pile of impala dung which was in the form of small round balls, each about 1/2 inch in diameter. He picked one up and described how they were safe to eat because they're from a browser which eats only plants. It was during his explanation that a jackal raced behind him maybe 30 yards away, parallel to our view.
Not caring much about the jackal, our guide walked a few paces away from the group, used his foot to draw a line in the ground, walked back to our group, and described the dung-spitting game. You play by putting a dung ball in your mouth and trying to spit it over the line he drew. He then challenged us to play against him.
Not many of us were interested in playing the game but to their credit, three people in our group participated: Missy, Mike, and Wayne. We all winced a bit as they placed the dung balls in their mouth, but we quickly got into the spirit of the game. We were a pleasantly surprised to see Missy play since she seemed hesitant with some activities during earlier safari outings. Wayne appeared to revel in the sport as he spit his dung ball the farthest.
While we walked back to our safari vehicles, I’m confident three members of our group really wanted a breath mint.
This experience was part of The Great Southern African Safari organized by G Adventures working in partnership with National Geographic Expeditions.
You can read about the technical aspects of this trip in the 'Tech on Travel - The Africa Edition' blog post by Allison Sheridan at
podfeet.com/blog/2024/09/tech-on-travel-africa
