A Biking Safari Is the Greatest Approach to See Wildlife in Africa

If there was a loyalty program for safaris, I’d have million-miler standing. I can recite the security speech verbatim (hold all physique elements contained in the Land Cruiser if you wish to hold all physique elements), inform the distinction between female and male giraffes (women have furrier ossicones, or horns), and arrange a shocking sundowner (pink tonic water is the key to picture-perfect gin and tonics). I’ve flown in helicopters over elephant herds in Botswana, navigated hippo-infested waters by picket canoe in Zambia, and watched kudu graze from the consolation of my personal plunge pool at a five-star camp close to Kruger Nationwide Park. However if you happen to ask me about my favourite technique to see the Huge 5, you could be shocked. It entails padded shorts, PBJs paired with Fanta, and climbing into ice baths as chilly because the African solar is scorching.

Are biking safaris secure?

“How dangerous is that this?” I requested the primary time I went on a biking safari. Kyle MacIntyre, our Pure Choice safari information who was raised in rural Botswana, handed me a helmet and smiled. “Biking is a really pure and pure type of being within the bush,” he mentioned, concurrently dodging the query and assuring me. I took consolation within the rifle—able to taking down a bull elephant, however by no means wanted—mounted to his mountain bike. “You possibly can hear all of the alarm calls from the birds, the snapping of twigs, and since most animals will not be by the busy roads, you’ve gotten a greater probability of seeing them by bike.” MacIntyre wasn’t flawed. Within the 4 days we spent biking and tenting collectively within the Kalahari Desert, I seen the wildlife both eyed our two-wheeled endeavors with curiosity or indifference. They positively didn’t see us as meals.

Why e book a biking safari?

My first biking safari was so riveting, I now favor recreation rides to recreation drives. On a recreation experience, you may’t relax the way in which you may on a drive. All 5 senses should be firing directly. It’s equal elements exhilarating and exhausting. And within the case of my most up-to-date biking safari this previous October—the inaugural Wagora Bike Trip at Singita Discover—I made lifelong associates and pedaled for a function. As a substitute of simply seeing the Huge 5, we have been saving them.

“Able to experience?” requested Braya Masunga, operations supervisor at Singita Discover. Masunga, who greeted my cousin, Rosie, and me with welcome drinks and funky towels, gained’t let you know, however Singita Discover is the luxurious tented camp the place Leonardo DiCaprio stays when he’s in Tanzania. You gained’t discover any paparazzi in these elements—simply the continent’s coolest anti-poaching unit. The truth is, the five-day biking safari we have been about to embark on is called after Kitaboka Wagora, an anti-poaching scout who was murdered by a poacher in 2008. Proceeds from the Wagora Bike Trip are donated to the Grumeti Fund, a non-profit that employs practically 100 anti-poaching scouts tasked with defending wildlife on this 350,000-acre part of the Serengeti.

What does a typical day on a biking safari seem like?

Like recreation drives, recreation rides begin early. Thankfully, rising and shining within the bush is simple. Singita Discover’s cooks have espresso brewing over the open fireplace and a carb-heavy unfold ready for us. With the assistance of a headlamp, the on-site bicycle mechanic, a Kenyan named Godfrey, makes certain our tires are adequately aired and prepared for the day’s 20 miles. The aim is to be biking no later than dawn. That is when it’s coolest, and the animals are most energetic.

Sporting matching biking jerseys, our peloton is a motley crew. I’m an avid roadie who discovered the right way to experience from my good friend, the 17-time Tour de France legend, George Hincapie. In the meantime, Rosie barely feels comfy on a seashore cruiser. Skyler Nuelle—the Grumeti Fund’s head of partnerships and influence evaluation—lately mountain biked up Mount Kilimanjaro in a four-day stage race, and Vicky Mkessa, applications coordinator for the Grumeti Fund, has by no means been on a motorbike earlier than. We’re escorted by a few safari guides who can monitor and inform us concerning the animals we’ll see, and no less than 5 armed anti-poaching scouts, most of whom don’t communicate English. We could not communicate the identical languages, however there’s one thing about driving in a gaggle—taking turns breaking the wind for one another—that bonds us in methods bumping round in a automobile by no means would.

In Botswana, we cycled on “elephant highways”—well-trodden paths made by Africa’s largest 5. However right here in Tanzania, we’re driving on a mixture of dust roads and single-track paths winding by means of the Grumeti Sport Reserve, grasslands residence to lions, leopards, cheetahs, elephants, hyenas, zebras, giraffes, wildebeests, buffalo, and the uncommon japanese black rhino. We see the whole lot besides leopards and cheetahs as we experience. My favourite sighting is a pair of lions we watch by means of binoculars at considered one of our relaxation stops. Most biking safaris function refreshment tables—coated with orange slices, PB&Js, and soda—roughly each eight miles. If that you must use the lavatory, you discover a tree.

I like understanding and seeing wildlife on the similar time. It makes me really feel much less responsible about indulging within the Instagram-worthy brunch ready for us after we experience again into camp. However earlier than diving into the buffet, we dunk ourselves in ice baths. After refueling, it’s time for a nap and therapeutic massage, adopted by afternoon tea and a recreation drive. We return round darkish and focus on the following morning’s experience and route over a multicourse dinner match for Mr. DiCaprio. Full bellies, sore legs, and glad hearts, we’re all wanting ahead to tomorrow’s 5 a.m. wake-up name. There’s one thing about being on a motorbike that brings you again to childhood, and we are able to’t wait to really feel like youngsters once more (particularly if it means we get to observe “The Lion King” in actual life).