A pinch-me-but-don't-wake-me-up kinda safari with Wild Eye at Shumbalala
I’m just coming out of the dreamiest safari dream of life and I never wanna wake up.
Unless it’s for leopard cubs.
The universe works in WILD ways and for whatever reason it decided to connect me with most badass company in the safari biz, Wild Eye. I’ve known about Wild Eye for awhile, my friend Shaadi has done safaris with them in the past and his photos have always blown my mind, and I have followed and even chatted with a few of the team on Insta over the past couple of years (cue me fangirling).
Wild Eye is a powerhouse team of photographic safari experts and guides, leading their guests through the best of Africa (and beyond) to the most stunning lodges in the best reserves with the most epic sightings. I really don’t think it gets any better than the experience they provide to their guests, and their tours are priced up there with their value so I always thought I would have to save up my whole life to be able to go on safari with them. But I’ve been on a budget safari so I know firsthand that it’s not an experience you wanna skimp out on, and I knew Wild Eye would be so so worth it.
But as the universe would have it, Wild Eye’s founder Gerry reached out to me on Insta a couple of months ago after he saw some previous safari content. We chatted on the phone and I think he said I had an “X factor” and we wanted to see if we could work together!
I went to Joburg and met the team, stayed at Gerry’s house with his wife and dogs (did you know South Africans are the most generous and hospitable people on the planet and will just invite you into their house and braai for you and treat you like family?). I met more of the Wild Eye team and we even filmed some content in Joburg and recorded a podcast with Gerry that is one of the coolest things I’ve ever been a part of (check the link here or listen wherever you listen to your podcasts!)
ANYWAY, we knew there was a good vibe between us and similar interests in terms of a love for safaris and putting out authentic, relatable, real-time content, so we thought it would be a great fit for us to collab!
The opportunity came up for me to join them on a content collaboration at Shumbalala Game Lodge and I knew it could have the potential to change my career/brand/life.
I’m still processing what happened but safe to say it was indeed life-changing.
First of all, Shumbala is GOALS. Gorgeous lodge, incredible rooms, a pool made of Instagram dreams. There were elephants at that waterhole all day every day and one afternoon I literally sat there for an hour as the elephants came up to the pool I WAS IN to have a drink, meandered around the riverbed and to the waterhole. I stayed very still and calm and quiet and elephants can totally read your energy so eventually they just accepted me as part of their surroundings. It was so so crazy. I haven’t seen a pool or waterhole view like this at any other lodge and for me, that already sets Shumbalala at the top of my list for safari lodges.
But the game viewing we had here was NEXT. LEVEL. I honestly think it was my best safari yet. Not as many leopards as Sabi Sands (which is leopard capital, but also comes with more vehicles and shorter sightings), but still a fair amount of leopards around (we saw tracks for a female and 2 cubs and a male) and I even spotted a leopard myself which was VERY exciting for me. You may be asking, why am I making such a big deal out of this? Hear me out:
If you know me, you know I am OBSESSED with leopards. I manifest them all the time with my shoes, mask, mind etc. They are so stunning and badass and they always make me cry and they’re super elusive, I’ve only seen them a handful of times. Along with dolphins (because they’re free and flouncy), leopards are my spirit animal (because they’re badass solo females and you don’t wanna f with them).
Spotting animals on safari is something I take great pride in because I am constantly on alert scanning for animals on drives and, for me, a safari is all about the surprise element. Like my pet peeve is when a guide tells me there’s an animal sighting before we even get there. I might as well go to a zoo. So to spot it on my OWN is an EXTRA surprise.
On the day I spotted this particular leopard, we literally spent 3 hours in the morning and 3 hours on the afternoon game drive searching for leopards (because we’d already seen the Big 5 and the wild dog puppies, who I’ll get into because they deserve way more than this side comment). Our guide Edward and tracker Sam were such legends getting out of the vehicle and tracking their prints in the dirt, we knew they were in the area but they are sooo hard to find (which is good because that means the babies were well hidden!). But when I finally saw it just as we were about to call it a night, believe me when I tell you all the build-up made that accomplishment so much more rewarding!!!
Anyway enough about that for now but don’t expect that to be the last time I tell you about my leopard spotting.
Aside from that, as I mentioned, we saw the Big 5 (more than once), including some of the most picture perfect male lions I’ve ever seen (full mane, solid bod, power stare) basking in the golden sunrise. It was epic. They were sons of Maposa, a lion who has one eye and I am still working on bringing down my heart rate from that particular walk-by.
We also saw lion cubs, drinking some water at sunset, they were the cutest bebe Simbas.
But one of the MOST memorable sightings (there were seriously too many for me to write here) was the wild dog puppies. There is a litter of about 11 in Thornybush Reserve right now, they’ve been there around 3 months, and if I was you I would get on the next flight over immediately. This is a once-in-a-lifetime sighting and honestly I’m surprised I didn’t pass out from the cuteness. Their Mickey Mouse ears, their spotted white socks, the way they hop and jump and snuggle and play and fall into the den holes. SO SO CUTE. I can’t I’m gonna start crying.
Aside from the pool Ellies we also had some other spunky/adorable elephant encounters. Including from my room when I would text our WhatsApp group “ELLIES INCOMING ELLIES INCOMING”, throw on my bikini and sprint (gently calmly) to the pool.
So ya I don’t think I’m exaggerating on this being the best safari.
It was so cool to be a part of Wild Eye’s content creation magic and watch Gerry and Johan do what they do, they are so engaging and authentic with their audience and it’s not hard to see why they have such massive Instagram followings, such loyal safari guests, and are absolutely killing the game with Wild Eye. They are always pushing the envelope with their creative ideas and the way they service clients is next level — the sky is really the limit from where they go next.
I obviously love safaris and also content and being on camera (my dream is to have my own travel show) so it was awesome to be a part of the video for this Wild Eye TV episode, and I will defs share the link when it’s up!
From here, I will leave you with a modification on my favourite David Bowie quote, which I know applies to both me and Wild Eye:
I don’t know when we’re going from here, but I promise it will be epic!
