14 pointers on being safe around wild animals...
Setting off into the unknown on a self drive safari can be both exciting and intimidating. Exciting because it’s the adventure of a lifetime, a chance to be in the wild and see the animals just as they have been for thousands of years. Intimidating because unless you grew up in the bush, it’s likely that over the generations you lost your sense of how to behave and be safe around wild animals.
Whilst you are in your car, with the exception of elephants, wild animals pose little threat to you. You can read up on driving around elephants in my blog post here. Your risk increases once you leave your vehicle, which at the very least you will need to do to camp, but you may also choose to take pit stops or be forced to get out to clear the track ahead or wade a river.
The following 14 pointers will help you to stay safe around wild animals:
1. If you have never been to the bush before - start off with a slow immersion. Make sure the first couple of nights you camp are in a well attended and fenced campsite. The more people there are in camp the more animals will avoid the camp. Whilst a fence should keep out the elephant, it will not keep monkeys or snakes at bay.
2. Do not leave food out (day or night). Monkeys will raid you by day, and hyenas will raid you by night.
3. Do not feed any wild animals. Feeding wild animals encourages them to become a nuisance, and they can get aggressive if you decide you no longer want to feed them or no longer want them around. Getting into close contact with animals can increase your risk of being bitten, and thereby increase your risk of contracting rabies.
4. Keep your tent (or tent’s mosquito net) zipped up at all times. Animals such as lion will view your tent as a solid object if zipped up, however if it is left open there have been cases where they have poked their heads in for a nibble.
5. Keep close to the fire at night. Fire acts as a deterrent to wild animals. This becomes more important the more remote you are. If you are wild camping or are the only party in a remote campsite and lion, hyena, elephant, buffalo or hippo are known to be present, a fire is essential.
6. Be aware of what is behind bushes and scrub, such as buffalo, which startle and charge easily. Lone buffalo are notoriously aggressive because they do not have the safety of the heard, they charge first think later.
7. If you encounter a lion - DO NOT RUN - stand still, avoid eye contact and then slowly backtrack to a position of safety such as your car.
8. If you encounter an elephant slowly move to a position of safety. Most elephant walking through your camp will be respectful of your space and do not pose a threat. In the rare event of an aggressive elephant walking into camp, get to a position of safety such as behind a big tree or the camp ablution blocks if they are sturdy enough. Note your car is not solid enough to fend off a charging elephant.
9. Do not camp on animal trails, especially those to and from water which are often used by hippo.
10. Do not get out of your vehicle unless you have good visibility of all the area around you. When you come to a river crossing or picnic area switch off your engine, and take your time to listen and look around before getting out of the car.
11. Do not wade into water if you cannot see the bottom or any furhter than knee-deep. If banks are covered by vegetation or the water is too murky to see the bottom do not wade in. To avoid being bitten by a crocodile you need to be able to see it. Take a stick with you just in case.
12. Snakes will mostly avoid human movements, if you see one stay out its way, in the very unlikely event you are bitten try to get a picture of the snake that has bitten you to show the medical staff.
13. Long range pepper spray and a catapult can be useful deterrents
14. If you have to leave your tent at night, take your time to listen and shine your flashlight around before exiting.
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