SAFARI the acronym stands for Simply Awesome Family Adventure Roaringly Incredible. I feel this experience lives up to that acronym.

We left camp on a search for lion cubs a key sighting that we had not experienced yet. On the way we saw great hippo out of the water and a few other animals. Our mission was the lion cubs. They found the tracks and we found adult members of the pride but the cubs had obviously been hidden somewhere. Our ranger decided to cross the river to see if the cubs were on the other side. We crossed and went up and down the river bank no cubs to be found. It was getting late and we had given up when it came across the radio, the lion cubs have come out. Of course we were now on the wrong side of the river and a long way from the crossing place. We could see the cubs playing on the other side of the river it was an idyllic scene.

We raced down to a spot where we were told by the ranger from this part of the reserve it was safe to cross. All was going well but about 10 feet from the bank we stopped. This has happened to me before and another vehicle hooks up a tow line and pulls you out. No big deal. So I was not worried at all. Clay’s wife Brooke was a little nervous about this and I told her not to worry it would all be fine. We saw the Webster’s but they just waved, laughed at us and left. Our ranger explained we needed a Toyota Land Cruiser to get us out as a Land Rover would not be able to pull us out.

The Toyota arrived and our tracker got into the water and hooked up the tow line. The operation started and we simply spun our tires and got in deeper. A further three attempts rendered the same results. Not sure why we took all this so well but we were all enjoying the moment until we heard these words “sorry you need to get out of the vehicle and wade to shore”. Whoops!! Not what I had expected. Brooke handled this far better than I would have expected and said “lets take our shoes”. Did we listen to the voice of intelligent thought? Of course not, I thought about wearing them in the river but these were my only shoes. Of course I believed once on the bank the car would come right out and all would be well. They made the people in the Land Cruiser get out as well. The water was not cold and it was very shallow with a sandy a bottom no problem wading out. But once on the bank we had to move back from the vehicles for safety. That was hard with the sand and the grass that was a bit prickly. Brooke put on her shoes and was in fine shape but “unintelligent experienced ones” were having some difficulty. This sounds terrible I know but we were all laughing.

So now the attempt to pull us out starts again --- the vehicle did not budge. Oh my, what now! At this time the Turners turned up. Laughing at us, taking pictures enjoying seeing us all with our pants rolled up and bare feet. The Turner’s got out of their vehicle and when Jim heard that we waded out of the river he just cracked up laughing. The rangers hooked up the Turner’s Land Rover to the Land Cruiser and then to our stranded vehicle. After about three attempts our vehicle was returned to dry land. We all piled in and put back on our socks and shoes happy to be back in our comfort zone.

Too late to view the lion cubs we started home. Almost immediately we found a lion on the road. At that moment Clay’s phone rang. We all jumped and could not believe there was phone service this deep in the bush. He answered the phone and it was his insurance company. He said “well I am in South Africa right now” can I call you when I get back. He should have said “well I am in South Africa right now, was just rescued from a river and am looking at a lion right now, can I call you back later". By this time we were all in absolute hysterics. I know reading this it may sound scary but it was truly a great adventure and even Brooke who was very nervous on arrival came through with flying colors. She is a “tough seasoned safari gal now”. At no time were we in any danger it was just an inconvenience but a story I can now tell for a long time.

Safari experiences are so unique there is NO way to explain how all this feels when you are here. Everyone has had an incredible time it is sad to think there is only one day left.