Animal Game Drives
Animal Game Drives: When people plan to visit Africa especially East Africa for a wildlife Safari, one of the most exciting activities they are looking forward to is the animal game drive in one or more than one of the animal parks.
Some travellers will choose to have more than one animal game drive on a safari well as others will opt to have one comprehensive one; and whatever the case, travellers seek to make the most of their animal game drive experiences.
So to help you not lose out on your game drive experience we are listing a couple of things that you should look forward to and expect on a game drive.
Animal game drives are always organised beforehand, so you normally know when and where you’re going to have the game drive; all game drives are usually guided by a game ranger or a tour guide and some cases you may need to follow a game tracker to navigate the park terrains.
Some travellers though may opt for self-drive animal game drives that may not necessarily be guided though they follow a game tracker to help them navigate the park terrains.
With that said, here is a list of things you can expect or look forward to on your animal game drive experience.
All Animal game drives happen at particular times.
Different animal parks have different times for game drives but the constant thing in all these game drives, they are done at set times bit it private or normal scheduled game drives, they all have particular set times. This means if you are interested in a game drive in any of the animal parks, you have to fit in one of the particular times.
Most game drives start as early as 5am these are called morning game drives, then afternoon game drives start at 2pm, evening game drives start at 4pm and night game drives start at 7pm. Some animal parks have whole game drives that combined morning and afternoon game drives.
The animal game drives are set at these particular times because it is when the wild animals are most active hence can easily be seen compared to other times. Also some specific animals only come out during some specific hours, so that is also put in consideration.
Most animals rest between 10am and 2pm which makes seeing them hard because they somewhere in their hideouts resting; but in the early morning, afternoon, evening and night they are up and about making sighting them pretty easy.
You need a Guide, Ranger or Tracker on any of the animal game drives.
Seeing animals on animal game drives is the ultimate and I cannot imagine going on an animal game drive and not seeing any animal; that will beyond disappointing and totally devastating, that’s why you will need a guide, ranger or a tracker on your animal game drive.
These guides, rangers and trackers are one familiar with the animal park so they are well aware of where to find the different animals in the park but also they highly skilled and knowledgeable about animals meaning they will know the best tactics of game viewing which will enhance you seeing of animals on your game drive compared to when you are alone.
Having a guide, ranger or tracker on your game viewing experience will make it less exhausting because you won’t drive around in the park for long hours looking for animals, it will be exciting, fun and informative in all senses. Plus you will not get lost in the park because you forget the way or the navigation map is confusing, you will see almost all the animals you told the guide, ranger or tracker you wanted to see, because they will take you to the specific places with these animals and many more things. So you need a guide, ranger or tracker on your animal game drive. You can organise to have a guide, ranger or tracker with your tour operator as you plan your safari.
Low season animal game drives are the best.
The best time to view animals is either in the early morning, evening or in the night. Because these times are the best times to see animals during high travel seasons, they will attract more people than other times like the afternoon. This means when you book to have an animal game drive during these times expect to be driving through the park with other groups also on their animal viewing experiences hence may not get the full blown animal viewing experience you wanted.
The solution to this to have animal game drives during the low season, when the numbers of the travellers is really low, the competition to see animals is nearly zero so you have a comprehensive animal game drive that gives you the best sighting of all the animals you would like to see on your game drive.
During high seasons, if you have a skilled guide, ranger or tracker with you, they can try and use less crowded routes on your game drive; however these routes normally have few animals to see. So, low seasons still remain the best.
Snacking on an animal game drive
Animal game drives may be long especially if you are having a game in one of the large animals, you may have to driving for long hours for you to be able to see all the animals you need to see. So it’s prudent that you carry some snacks for the game drive, you can have these snacks when you’re hungry or when you take a break in the wild.
However, even when you snack, you should not litter the park and you should not feed the animals, some cases you shouldn’t snack while in the presence of the animals.
This is because these actions can affect the animal conservation efforts like keeping the park conducive for them to live in and feeding them may cause them to attack you, remember they are wild animals.
So though you will need to snack on your animal game drive, snack wisely.
Taking Photos and Videos
Taking Photos and videos on game drives is allowed and it’s the only way you will keep memories of your amazing game drive however, like for snacks, you should be discreet in the way you take your photos and videos, because these gargets some times irritate the wild animals and they may end up attacking you and ruining your experience.
Clothing
It’s advised that on a game drive you put on neutral colours, which will not cause confusion among the animals. These neutral colours will help you go through the wild without irritating the animals. And this will give you a spectacular animal game drive experience and still keep the animals at peace.
