Ferrari Safari

Our experience at Singita Pamushana has been so much fun, very luxurious, and went by way too fast... but that is not what I mean by Ferrari Safari...

We arrived at Singita Pamushana, the only lodge in Zimbabwe's Malilange Reserve, just in time for sundowners... We watched the sun set over the water from the lodge's perfect clifftop location above the savannah. Then it was right out on an evening game drive - my first safari experience! (Although we had already been greeted by giraffe on the ride in!)  Within a few hours I had already checked of 3 of the Big Five: buffalo, elephant, and rhino.  The park has some of the rare black rhino in addition to lots of white rhino.  We also saw more giraffe, zebra, hippos, monkeys, baboons, impala and lots of other antelope.  The big cats (my favorite!) would have to wait til Day 2, so after our morning game drive, I had seen the Big Five within 24 hours of my first safari experience - many thanks to our phenomenal guide Fortune's good fortune.  He spotted the leopard (no pun intended) in some brush under a tree - of course it took us about 3 min to find the camoflauged cat, but his keen eye led the way.  We watched her nap for a bit then I swear we made eye contact when she woke up.  She checked us out for a minute before relocating to continue her nap.  Amazing to have met my first big cat in the wild! A few minutes later Fortune got a call from fellow trackers who had spotted lions in another area of the park.  Queue Ferrari Safari.  We held on as Fortune navigated the bush to get us there quickly.  Just in time to meet Nala and Simba!  A lioness was lounging by the river bed with her two new (3 month old) cubs, who had only been sighted once before in the reserve.  They were accompanied by her older male son (a few years old) who was just starting to grow his mane.  The feeling of being 10 feet from a lion in the wild is an indescribable experience.  Our 4 game drives at Singita Pamushana were an amazing introduction to safari for me.  I met Simba, Nala, and Sarabi (lions), Pumba (warthogs), Zazu (hornbills), Rafiki (baboons), and so many other members of the African animal kingdom!

Singita Pamushana's mountaintop location over the reserve offers stunning views over the Malilangwe dam. This made possible two other amazing experiences for us. One evening we took a boat safari on the lake, where we met hippos up close (but not TOO close - they aren't very friendly!) and the rare clawless otter (Fortune had only seen the otter once before!).  They also have crocodiles and lots of fish and birds.  Our villa was perched at the peak of the property, giving us a bird's eye view over the water and savannah.  Yesterday in our room relaxing before lunch, Cassie spotted an elephant wading in the water so she called us all to see. We took turns scoping him out with our villa's scope when we realized the hippos weren't too happy to have an elephant on their turf.  They surrounded the now nervous elephant starting a staredown.  Finally Ellie got his gumption and began trumpetting and splashing around (did you know an elephant can do a barrel roll in the water??).  We knew the standoff might last a while, so we called our friends and hosts, and everyone came up to our villa for the show.  In the end, the elephant showed those hippos who was boss, but not before many exchanges of trumpetting, grunting, water splashing, and victory strutting.  What an amazing interaction to witness!


Our game experience was incredible, but not the only meaningful things to do at Singita Pamushana.  Yesterday we went to see a typical village where we learned how the local tribes lived traditionally... I am certain I wouldn't last a week! We practiced our archery and trapping skills, made porridge from scratch, and tapped along to their traditional music and dance.

This morning made real the incredible impact the tourism industry can have on local communities.  Singita feeds breakfast to 22,000 children DAILY in Africa.  They provide the resources and training, and the communities themselves carry out the services.  We went to meet some of the children and the ladies of the community who serve them breakfast thanks to Singita.  Ansley and I played soccer with the little boys and we helped feed them their nutritious porridge breakfast. Then we went about 45 min to the local school, also supported by Singita, where we saw 3rd graders learning fractions, 4th graders practicing grammer, and 7th graders getting ready for their annual standardized tests. The school also offers extracurricular clubs to help expand the children's goals for what they want to be when they grow up.  We saw the dance troupe in an impressive performance and then got lessons from these professionals - they made it to the finals last year, and Singita paid their way to the competition.  Finally we stopped at the clinic Singita has built, also operated by the community, which also includes HIV education clinics and a natal ward - we saw a new mother and her 30 minute old twins!  This experience really brought together my passion for travel with my former professional path in international development. Singita's community outreach programs are a perfect example of the notion "Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and feed him for life." Their dedication to educating and empowering the local community is admirable and inspiring.

Never enough time in each place, we are back to Jo'burg now.  Tonight is our last night together as a group and we are already mourning our last supper! Tomorrow I am off to Madikwe Game Reserve in South Africa for three more lodge experiences.