This Week At Angama #164

The sun rises on yet another perfect day in the Mara Triangle. Perched 1000 foot above the grasslands below, the sounds of Africa waking up drift gently upwards: the distant booming hoot of a female southern ground hornbill, the faint cough in the forest below of a leopard marking his territory, the piercing whistle of a rock hyrax as it spots a raptor soaring high above.

From up here at Angama the views are vast. There can be few greater lookouts in Africa. You can sit back and watch it all unfold through binoculars from the comfort of a rocking chair, or you can jump on board a safari vehicle and drive down the escarpment, and enter into the Theatre of the Wild.

Down on ground level nature is at play. A daily life and death battle is taking place as animals jostle for their positions in the food chain. At times it can seem chaotic, at others it resembles an odd appearance of order. Everything is in balance.

On safari we become observers. Momentarily, we are lifted out of our comfort zones, far from the world where we dictate movements, schedules and behaviour, and into a world where we no longer have control.

Our position on the top of the pyramid is challenged as we realise that out here, in the sea of golden grass, we are the outsiders. Watching a lion confidently walk down a path, eyes fixated on its prey, triggers a switch. It strikes us somewhere deep inside: a split second eye contact and a primal flame ignites; adrenalin soars and seconds later the most natural, and addictive high follows. That feeling right there is what we in the safari world refer to as ‘the bug’.

It doesn’t take long to bite, and when it does, it latches on and never lets go. And so starts a never-ending quest to see more of the natural world and to explore different corners of Africa. A wonderous love affair that will leave you with no option but to return. Being on safari should always come with an addiction warning.

Getting an elevated position over the Mara truly gives a special perspective. Either whilst floating above in the basket of a Hot Air-Balloon, or sitting on the deck back at camp at Angama Mara.