THE ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION OF THE AFRICAN SAFARI
THE ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION OF THE AFRICAN SAFARI
Please remember; that a perfect African Safari is a result of knowing when and where to go, and with whom. You can be a few weeks early or late, a few kilometers off the course and you could mess up or miss a once in a lifetime experience.
Africa! Raw, Untamed and Exquisitely beautiful. Once dominated by animals that roamed the land without boarders or built-up human territories. It is home to some of the oldest habitats and most diverse eco systems on the earth. It is also home to some of the world’s most iconic animals.
The Swahili word Safari: meaning Journey was introduced into the English language in the mid-18th century by a British Explorer Sir Richard Francis Burton.
Today, the Word Safari means an Excursion to see and photograph wildlife in its Natural African habitat.
I have to disclose that the word Safari has taken on different meanings to different people over time.
As a matter of fact, the evolution of the word Safari shows the transformation of Africa through its human errors. First and foremost, to the Africans across Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya the word safari originally means a long trading journey spanning over many days, weeks or even months. With the mid-18th Century Arabs in the picture the word Safari refers to the great voyages undertaken for trading across the continent, and this far we know that Arab – Swahili traders experienced long unkind voyages on the Caravans facing lots of danger, diseases and in some cases, Death. On Safari!
At the beginning of the 20th century with the arrival of the Europeans into East Africa, the word safari was re-invented and it got new meaning to describe wild romance and adventure in territories ruled and reigned over by fierce beasts; Lions, Leopards, Buffalos, Rhinos and Elephants; These dominant residents of the jungle came to be known as The African Big Five. Animals were Killed, not with spears but shot with guns, then they were taken to Europe and America as trophies. Safari was about Big game hunting. Animal skins horns, tusks, and whole heads were traded as commodities and collected for Western Museum and home displays.
The peak of the hunting period corresponded with the colonial error when Africa was occupied by Europe. This period is sometimes referred to as The Scramble and Partition of Africa– From 1881 to 1914 at the start of the first world war.
By 1900, the entire African continent was littered with Europeans. This opened up Africa to westerners who were looking for Adventure and explorations of all kinds. Hunting Expeditions were very popular among American and European Aristocrats during this period. The Term White Hunter was coined and became common; to describe professional big game hunters who brought in clients from Europe and America.
They hunted and came into close contact with some of the most fierce and deadly animals in the eyes of the westerners. White hunters set up their outfits in places like Kenya and took wealth customers across Africa up to the Savannahs and highlands of Uganda to shoot wildlife.
Large herbivores like Buffaloes, rhinos and Elephants and carnivores like Lions and Leopards were highly targeted- for they were very abundant in those days.
Today, African safaris Explore both the land and it’s wildlife, taking us close to the details amazing sights, sounds and smells of the pure unadulterated natural world that cannot be found anywhere else on the earth.
Among those amazing experiences is the gorilla trekking in Rwanda’ Volcanoes National Park, DR. Congo’s Virunga National Park and of course Uganda’s Mgahinga or the Bwindi impenetrable National which is home to more than half of the world’s surviving mountain gorillas.
When you meet the Mountain Gorillas, you feel the power and calmness inside these gentle giants; so huge, so strong and yet so sweet, sensitive and friendly to everything and everyone in their surroundings. There is an unusual awe, wonder, exuberance and joy that awaits you on an African Safari today.
- Go meet with the Gorillas in the Bwindi Impenetrable, Trek for the Chimpanzees and Search the swamps for the Shoebill in Uganda
- Experience the Chaos of the great migration of the Wildebeests and Zebras in the Serengeti or Masai Mara, Tanzania or Kenya
- Convene with the Giants, the big Tuskers in Tsavo and Amboseli in Kenya
- Stalk the Mountains with Wolves on the roof of Africa in Ethiopia
- Waddle with the penguins of the cape in South Africa
- Search for the Desert Lions in Namibia