Safari activities: The Game Walk

One of the most thrilling activities you can do on your safari is a game walk, yes that means walking into a jungle filled with all that wilderness, with those meat eating giant cats, short tempered buffalo and raging elephants. Okay I am sounding  a bit scary there but its that fear that sets apart those who do game walks and those who don't!!, Read on to see if you are a game walker........

What is a game walk?

A game walk is basically just a walk, you walk into the wilderness and experience game sightings in the most unaltered way. The walk involves a small group and two guides, they will take you on a track and you will nature and wildlife at a very unique perspective. Not all camps offer this activity but choose a camp with the activity and you are in for thrill.

 

Why do a game walk?

Its a completely different activity, it transforms your safari because it is filled with so much emotions you will have to let it sink in. Firstly its very frightening to do, which means all you senses will be heightened. You don't get to be relaxed and affixed to the menu settings on your camera like you do on a game drive. Your survival instincts don't care much about anything during a walk because you feel fragile, you don't have time for that  Instagram pix when you know lions loom in the shrubs behind you!! The safari walk tends to scale you down to a very minuscule being as you walk into the wild and realize you are neither faster nor stronger than any animal surrounding you. You come from a game walk with profound respect to nature.

Is it safe?

Surprisingly yes, there hadn't been any reported case of game walkers being eaten or attacked. Most companies that offer walking activities do so in game reserves that have very low numbers of carnivores, so scary as it there is nothing to fear. Camps that offer walks in zones with higher concentration of carnivores usually do so in Botswana where wildlife rarely attack people. And as a precautionary matter the guides taking you on your game walk will at all times me carrying a very powerful hunting rifles to ward off any attackers. So listen to your guide and have fun. You may as well live you camera at camp, its one of those moments that will only remain memories on your mind.

 

Caveat: Backpackers and overlanders, DO NOT ATTEMPT GAME WALKS. Walking into the wilderness must at all times be carried out in presence of a licensed guide and only on regions that have been deemed safe to do so.

 

My disclaimer; I am in Botswana and our wildlife hasn't been harassed, the parks are hundreds of miles from human settlement so the animals don't really have a problem with human, they don't even know the taste of man!! Avoid walks in parks or reserves that border or are within human settlements as those have animals that are agitated y farmers and poachers, those animals will attack you.