Fun Safari Facts

2 min Read November 25, 2009

Fun Safari Facts

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Did You Know ….

  • You can learn how to ride an ostrich while visiting South Africa. If you’re really talented you can even become an ostrich jockey and race professionally. However, ostriches aren’t really the ideal safari vehicle, so some lodges now offer horseback and elephant back safaris for a smoother ride.
  • White rhinos and Black rhinos are both in fact various shades of grey, it’s their upper lips that distinguish the two species. White rhinos have a square upper lip, Black rhinos have pointy upper lips.
  • At Boulder Beach near Cape Town (South Africa), you’ll be shooing away penguins from your beach towel and if you’re lucky, get to swim alongside them. Bring a wetsuit, the water is pretty chilly in these parts.
  • The Himba of Namibia smear their skin with a mixture of rancid butter, ash and ochre to protect them from the harsh desert climate. The paste (Otjize) is often mixed with the aromatic resin of the Omuzumba shrub to make it a little more palatable.
  • Hippos can’t swim, they walk along along the bottom of rivers or lakes. Hippo’s are also Africa’s most dangerous animal and responsible for more human fatalities than any of the “Big 5” (elephant, buffalo, leopard, lion and rhino).
  • You can cage dive with crocodiles and Great White sharks in South Africa.
  • Individual wildebeest can cover over 30,000 miles in their lifetime. Their annual migration route takes them in a continuous loop from the Serengeti in Tanzania’s to Kenya’s Masai Mara region.
  • The great Victorian explorer David Livingstone died trying to find the source of the Nile River in 1873. Today you can defy death by white-water rafting down the source of the great Nile River which is in the district of Jinja, (Lake Victoria) Uganda.
  • Mopane worms are a very popular food source in Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, South Africa and Zimbabwe. The larvae of the Emperor Moth is eagerly harvested (the head is plucked off and the guts squeezed out), dried and sold throughout the region. You can buy cans of Mopane worms soaked in brine, in most local supermarkets. A great souvenir and cheaper than a 6 foot carved giraffe.
  • You can practice your bow and arrow hunting skills on a cultural safari with the Hadzabe tribe in Tanzania and the San Bushmen of Namibia and Botswana.

Come and enjoy an African Safari with us and experience these adventures yourself.

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