My first official Adventurelust Safari Meet-Up, ft. 4 adrenaline-pumping encounters

Well friends, here we are again. Another blog post, another life-changing safari, amiright?! What a wild life!

Trust me, as a Canadian who grew up thinking safaris were a once-in-a lifetime bucket list experience (which they still are, for many people, if they’re lucky!) — getting to experience all of this truly truly feels surreal. In my opinion, there is no travel experience that tops a safari, so having been able to safari like I’ve safariied (and with more to come ee!) — this is all just a dream.

Anyway. Here we are. Turning dreams into reality and blah blah (but seriously).

So when I launched my brand/biz/empire Adventurelust, one of the services I decided to offer (along with Travel Apparel & Gear … Trip Planning & an On-Call Travel Buddy … and Travel Content Creation Course & Coaching) … was EPIC ADVENTURE MEET-UPS!!

I had big dreams but COVID had others, so while I have been dabbling in local meet-ups like our epic Lion’s Head sunset hike, some of my tour plans have been shelved due to the difficulties of international travel (COVID tests, changing restrictions, quarantines, etc).

BUT I am based in South Africa, and so is the 2nd biggest portion of my audience after Canada, so I thought — a Kruger safari meet-up, why not throw it out there?!

A ton of peeps were interested in coming and I hope will be able to join one day, and two amazing guests were able to join for the ride: Sophie and Filip, both from Belgium, both awesome, chill vibes, both people who had found me on Instagram, followed me for awhile I think, and thought it would be fun to join me on the safari life I’ve been spamming you all about!

I was fortunate to secure a collaboration with Simbavati Safari Lodges (which fyi are some of the dreamiest accommodations of life) and got a great deal for Sophie and Filip, so we were off to the bush!!!!

We stayed at three of Simbavati’s locations: 2 nights in Camp George in Klaserie Private Game Reserve, 1 night in Trails Camp, and 1 night in River Lodge (both in Timbavati Private Reserve).

Ummmmm ya. It was AMAZING.

Each safari is different, each encounter is different, and there is always that underlying safari magic of the serenity of the bush, the sound of the birds, magical sunrises and sunset, epic sundowners, amazing food (although I swear Simbavati was next level. Every meal was sooo so good, I ate till I burst, cannot even pick a fave although one night at Camp George we had a white chocolate lava cake with chocolate ice cream that I think I will be dreaming over for the foreseeable future).

But if I had to pick a theme for this one, it would be more adrenaline rushes than I have ever had!!!! Particularly with elephants. Like the encounters that get your heart pumping and kinda make you feel like you might die, you know?

Adrenaline-Pumping Encounter #1

At Camp George, we were driving home one night and saw elephants appear out of nowhere. They get skittish when it’s dark because their eyesight is not great, so the vehicle beams threw them off, and as our guide Manie (who is hilarious btw) drove through that section of the path, 2-3 of them started trumpeting at us as we drove through. A slightly unnerving experience in the dark, but it was exciting!

Adrenaline-Pumping Encounter #2

A similar encounter but this one in daylight, we saw a beautiful herd of ellies crossing the path in front of us. One bull bringing up the rear crossed the path, everything was fine, but then he got a bee in his bonnet and decided he wasn’t happy with our presence. Manie knew what was coming as the elephant turned around and started to charge us, trumpeting and flapping his ears.

We’ve never seen a guide drive so fast as we got the hell out of there. Filip, Sophie and I were definitely feeling the adrenaline — an amarula was necessary to calm me down after that!

(obv I have no pictures of these ones as they were unexpected and sudden and I was too busy trying not to have a heart attack)

Adrenaline-Pumping Encounter #3

Another exhilarating experience was a Camp George morning when we headed down to a waterhole where Banzai, Shenzi, and Ed themselves were taking a little drink. It was so cool to have a prolonged hyena encounter like that, as usually those shady shysters are just lurking along a path trying to scrounge up a leopard’s kill or something like this.

But the most HILARIOUS moment was when one hyena (p sure it was Shenz) came right up to the vehicle, too close to even see, too close for comfort. She then walked to the other side where Sophie was sitting just feet away from her.

Now, hyenas aren’t the scariest predators in Africa, but if you think they aren’t absolutely savage and could rip you apart if they really felt like it, you are very wrong.

Pretty sure that was going through Soph’s head as she stared STRAIGHT AHEAD in the vehicle, not moving, barely breathing (same went for all of us), refusing to acknowledge that this predator was curiously sniffing and staring just feet away from her as she just tried to maintain composure.

We never know how we will react in these close animal encounters, and Soph’s reaction was the best — other safari goers may scream, panic, and even jump out the vehicle, which trust me will not be a desirable outcome.

Sooo good!!!

Adrenaline-Pumping Encounter #4

The 4th and most HECTIC encounter was when we were on foot at Trails Camp in the Timbavati, which is a stunning luxurious bush camp with unreal food that is also off-the-grid, environmentally friendly (they could pack up the entire camp and not leave a trace on the environment), and, unlike any other place I’ve stayed, offers only walking safaris, no game drives (although you can see animals on the drives to and from the camp).

Our evening walking safari with Trails Camp, let by CJ and JP (also Natasha the host was amazing and all the other staff!) was met with a beautiful sundowner surprise by the waterhole. I love how Simbavati offered so many personal touches like this one to make us feel special throughout our stay.

Game walks are very different from drives. You have less of a chance at seeing animals, as you are covering way less ground than driving. But if/when you do see them, the EXPERIENCE IS VERRRYYY DIFFERENT. The adrenaline rush is incomparable.

We got up at 5am and spent the first 1.5ish hours of our morning game walk with our only sightings being a fleeing dyker and an impala. It seemed things weren’t going to get much more exciting, when we heard elephants trumpeting not far away.

So we went to go check it out! That’s why we’re here, baby!

We made our way to the herd of elephants, and saw them popping up all throughout the bush. Amazing!

But one elephant caught wind of us and got a little too curious. Then a little too… aggressive. CJ motioned for us to get behind him. We had been thoroughly briefed to stay quiet, stay calm, stay in a group/a single file (so the shape to the elephant looked larger), we would walk backwards slowly, DON’T RUN.

BUT WHEN I TELL YOU THE PANIC THAT SET IN WHEN THAT ELEPHANT STARTED TO FLAP HER EARS AND START TO CHARGE US WHILE WE STOOD ON FOOT JUST METRES AWAY.

Oh my god there is no experience like that. We backed up slowly, as per CJ’s instruction, but I swear my heart has never pumped so hard. Filip, Soph and I had the thrill of our lives. Lots of deep breaths to recover from that one (I am even getting anxiety writing about this now).

The rest of our safari had some other incredible encounters, including a leopard climbing and jumping from a tree at night at River Lodge, a hippo fight at our morning coffee stop, lions chowing down on an elephant carcass (that STENCH), more lions perfectly positioned in the path for us to stare at in awe (siiimbaaa <3), some intimate and precious giraffe encounters. We did see the Big 5, and we soaked in the serenity of the bush as much as we possibly could.

Simbavati’s properties were magical.

My room in Camp George was possibly my favourite ever, I was pinchhhhing myself!!! I had a beautiful suite all to myself (room #1, the rhino room — request it if you can!) where I had a lovely bath, outdoor shower overlooking the river bed, I was OBSESSED obsessed. Also the entire property was like a lush green oasis. I think I would recommend this to anyone especially because it is gated so animals can’t get in so you can walk around freely, I want to bring my parents here! We saw some ellies at the waterhole too :)

Trails Camp as I already mentioned was the perfect mix of off-the-grid rustic & luxury, and provided such a unique experience with the walking safari. I would recommend pairing this with River Lodge, which is about an hour drive away through the reserve, has beautiful suites with also outdoor showers (my new fave thing), and overlooks a river that is frequented by crocs and hippos. One hippo left footprints in the path by our room LOL (you need the night watch to walk you to your room after dark, so you don’t run into the hippos, makes sense right).

All the food was amazing, the staff were so kind and attentive, we honestly felt like kings and queens throughout our entire Simbavati stay.

On the way back, we took a detour with Buya Buya Tours to see the incredible Blyde River Canyon on the Panorama Route, which is SOOO worth it. A stunning green canyon just 2 hours from safari land that looks like a painting. South Africa’s diversity never ceases to amaze.

Just a perfect first Adventurelust safari meet-up, really. Thanks to Sophie and Filip for joining, the amazing Simbavati team for organizing and providing us with an experience of a lifetime, and everyone for following along — hope you can make the next one! :)