Well, you probably thought the title of my blog would be “African Safari”, but we had a different kind of adventure yesterday. Soon after we got to Nazinga it was time to go out for the evening safari. The way it works there is you take your own vehicle and pay for a guide to go with you. We start out our tour with Abel, our guide, handing us a picture guide of animals we might see and not saying anything except “turn right”, “go straight”. So we drove for about 20 minutes through tall grass wondering what in the world we're supposed to be looking for. Our animal search came to a screeching halt when we got stuck. Yes, we got stuck in the mud on an African safari. So, Megan, Matt, our guide and I all get out to push while Angela drives. But it did not budge... since there is no way to call anyone we begin the task of getting us out. Matt & Abel get out the tire jack and begin jacking up the front wheels while Megan & I walk around collecting sticks and rocks to put under the tires. Did I mention that our guide, Abel, does not speak any English and Megan only knows a little French. So with hand motions and a few words, we worked together (and laughed cause what else can you do when you're stuck in the mud in Africa?). Once we got that done, we all pushed the car out. I wish someone could have videoed us pushing because it was quite a site. We were at the beginning of the “small river” when we got stuck, so we still had to go through it. We all push again as Angela guns the gas and are running after the vehicle to keep pushing it. In the process though, I fall into the muddy water (not once but twice!), lose my flip flops (yes, I should have worn my chacos but didn't expect to be walking through rivers!) and get up only to find we're stuck again. So we got out the jack, put the rocks under and pushed again... and finally we were out! By that time though it was almost dark and we had to drive back to the ranch. The only animal we saw on our safari was a some type of deer that I think they called a water buck (and some baboons, some birds and a turtle on our drive in). Not one elephant! So basically we paid money for an African mud bath adventure!
All muddy but at least we're out!
Matt & our guide trying to get us out
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