Sunday Safari (Day trip to Okapuka)

The pictures are a much better summary than my words, so I’ll take a breather on this one and let you enjoy some photos of our day-trip to Okapuka, a game farm about 30km north of Windhoek. The photos above are of a lion-feeding. We watched from behind a wooden wall with square peep holes cut across the middle at varying heights; electric and barbed wire covered the front. A weird set-up, but we were amazingly close. Our feeding was also quite interesting because it is rare for the lion to let the lioness eat before he is finished - this only happens when she is pregnant or in heat. Note the tongue sticking out of his mouth in the first picture.

To start, here’s a rhino looking refreshed after a nice bath in the mud. Namibia has two types of rhinos, black and white. The names are misleading because they are indistinguishable in color. “White” is a mistranslation of the Dutch word “wijd” (meaning wide), referring to the wide, square upper lip of the White Rhinoceros, distinct from the pointed lip of the Black Rhinoceros.

I do have one funny story about the afternoon. See the rhino heading for our safari vehicle? For a good twenty seconds I thought I’d meet my end with his horn through my stomach. The guide in our safari car had a big bucket of food he would dump on the ground so the rhino would come near the safari car and eat, giving us a great change to snap some photos and watch it from super close. The problem was that after feeding the rhino, the guide stored the bucket of food right underneath my feet (I was sitting in the back of the car). Apparently one helping wasn’t enough, because after finished the food on the ground the rhino made his way toward our vehicle. Rhinos have terrible eyesight but an amazing sense of smell - which makes you nervous when there is a bucket of food sitting right under your legs... It is kind of amazing to think about now but absolutely terrifying in the moment, there was a good twenty seconds where I feared for my life and prayed for the sound of the engine starting. Rhinos are actually pretty peaceful unless you get near a mom with her baby. Still, that horn and big body make me nervous.

We had a great group for the safari – from left to right there’s Kaylan (intern buddy at the LAC), Brooke (neighbor at Puccini House, interning at Mt. Sinai Center in Katutura), me, and in the back row are Marybeth’s volunteers: Alex, Amy, and Elena (sorry for my big head!). Our photographer is Clay, an American who joined us on the safari, and was a good sport about all the estrogen.

Fun fact for the day: as giraffes get older, their spots get darker.