CAPE TOWN – Aquila Safari Game Reserve

Aafrikas käies on kohustuslikuks osaks kindlasti ka safari. Minu bucket list’is on kunagi veeta nädal näiteks Serengetis. Kahjuks õiget safarit Cape Towni lähedal ei ole, siinsed on pigem loomaaiad. Mitte küll meie mõistes loomaaed, loomad ei ela puurides, aga nende ala on siiski piiratud. Aga nii kaua kuni päris safarile pole jõudnud, on need pargid ka lahedad.

Tripadvisor’i soovituste järgi valisime Aquila safari pargi. Umbes kahetunnine sõit Bloubergist. Hakkasime hommikul varakult sõitma, et mitte ummikusse jääda, aga alates 7st on teed juba umbes. Safari tuleks ette ka bronnida, aga õnneks võeti meid ikkagi ilma ka vastu. Hinna sees oli veel lõunabuffee, mis oli supermaitsev. Järmine päev andis kõht tunda ainult 🙂

Safari ise oli vägev. Nägime jõehobusid, ninasarvikuid, pühvleid, elevante, zebrasid, lõvisid ja minu lemmiklooma, kaelkirjakut. Saime teada, et jõehobude tõttu sureb aastas tuhandeid naisi, kes jões pesu pesevad ja et ninasarviku eest tuleb ära joosta sik-saki, sest nad oskavad ainult otse joosta. Elevante oli pargis kaks ja nemad aeti vist külastajate jaoks mäest alla seega nägime väga lähedalt. Lõvid olid küll lahtiselt, aga teistest loomadest eraldatud. Ühesõnaga ei midagi ahhetama panevat, aga lahe siiski.

PS! Riided on päikese eest kaitseks. Tegelikult oli hirmus palav, aga meil õnnestus eelmine päev end villi põletada.

//When in Africa, safari is a must. A week in Serengeti is in my bucket list for sure! Unfortunately, there are no real deal safaris near Cape Town. The ones here are more like zoos. Although the animals do not live in cages, they live in limited areas. But as long as you haven’t had the real safari experience, these game reserves are exiting too.

Based on the Tripadvisor reviews, we chose Aquila Private Game Reserve. Approximately 2 hours drive from Bloubergstrand. We started early but still managed to get caught in traffic at 7 am. The safari trip should be booked in advance but luckily they welcomed us without the booking as well. A buffet lunch was also included in the price (breakfast would’ve been included also, but we didn’t make it early enough so they excluded the breakfast from our price). The buffet was delicious, though we did feel it in our stomachs the next day, hehe. 

The game drive itself was fun. We saw hippos, rhinos, buffalo, elephants, zebras, lions, and of course my favourite animals giraffes. The only animal missing from the big 5 was leopard. We discovered that thousands of women who wash laundry in the rivers die because of the hippos and it is possible to escape from the rhinos by running in a zig zag pattern. There were two elephants in the reserve who were driven down from the hill for us so we got to see them very close. Lions lived in an open area but they were separated from other animals. So in short, nothing spectacular but still fun. 

 
PS! It was not cold, the clothes were for sun protection.