Have wildlife documentaries spoilt the safari experience?

[Flutterby]

The Telegraph
Mike Unwin 05/02/2020

Editor’s note: The opinions in this article are the author’s, as published by our content partner, and do not represent the views of MSN or Microsoft.
In a world where TV makes animal A-listers available for our viewing pleasure, reality can disappoint – so how do we manage expectations?

Oh please. Not another hyena! Briefly, the cluster of vehicles raised your hopes. But now, as your safari guide pulls over to watch the scavenger tucking into an impala carcass, you lower your camera and sink back down with a sigh.

Disappointed? Surely you should be delighted. Here you are in the African bush, with this animal so close you can count its whiskers. It’s a thrilling moment, a privilege. And yet, over the noisy crunching of bone, you’re silently cursing your misfortune.

There’s nothing wrong with hyenas, of course. But you’ve been on safari for three days and this is hardly your first. The problem with this particular hyena is that it’s not a leopard. That elusive cat – the biggest prize on your wish list – continues to give you the slip. And time is starting to run out.

It doesn’t help when your guide explains that this impala was, in fact, killed by a leopard. Neither did it help earlier to find the tracks of a different leopard that had passed unseen through your camp last night.

If only your guide had turned left along the river loop. If only you’d been here last week. If only you’d gone to Kenya instead of Tanzania. If only…

As a wildlife traveller, perhaps you recognise these feelings. A sense that fate has conspired against you; that you’ve been misled, even swindled, when you don’t see what you were hoping for. After all, leopards were emblazoned across the brochure and website. Everybody else seems to have got lucky. Why not you?

I’ve witnessed many such moments: in India, guests alighting crestfallen from their jeep, having failed to find a tiger; in the Azores, whale-watchers disembarking despondent after the ocean had failed to deliver a blue whale. In each case, these people had enjoyed a thrilling adventure in a gorgeous place, with a wealth of other wildlife on view, yet they had come away feeling somehow cheated.

The problem is our modern expectation of wildlife on demand. Now that pretty much all the world’s animal A-listers are available for our viewing pleasure, from mountain gorillas in Rwanda to polar bears in Svalbard, we have come to expect a sighting as our right. Safari-goers in the past counted themselves lucky to see one leopard in a lifetime but today, bombarded by images in the media, we feel entitled to them.

It’s as though paying for our wildlife experience gives us contractual rights. After all, we’d feel ripped off if we turned up in Paris and the Eiffel Tower wasn’t there. Why should the likes of leopards be any different?

Perhaps we are missing the point. Nature can never make promises. The clue is there in the word “wildlife”: seeing these animals is thrilling because they are wild, and therefore free to do their own thing – which includes not showing up at all. Implicit in the thrill of every sighting is the possibility of a non-sighting.

Lest I sound holier-than-thou, I should confess: it was me grumbling about that hyena. I’ve also caught myself grumbling after failing to find wolves in Spain, and in Belize after searching in vain for a jaguar. I claim no moral high ground. We’re all human; and we all fall prey to high expectations.

Perhaps it’s time to adopt a more Zen approach. Remind yourself how lucky you are to be there. By being on safari at all, you already have a front-row seat at a wildlife spectacular, regardless of what animals you chalk up.

Meanwhile, as you wait for the guide to stop talking about the hyena and restart the engine, take a look around. It’s all happening: a bateleur eagle soaring overhead; a monitor lizard peering from a termite mound. Sometimes it’s not until you don’t see what you want to see that you truly open your eyes.

https://www.msn.com/en-xl/lifestyle/tra ... hL1WKbNkXc

[Klipspringer]

Not only documentaries, social media, too

[Richprins]

Remind yourself how lucky you are to be there. By being on safari at all, you already have a front-row seat at a wildlife spectacular, regardless of what animals you chalk up.



This person seems to really be in the top 1% of world travelers...

[Flutterby]

One comment on FB was spot on for me....the safari experience has spoilt wildlife documentaries!!

When I watch them, there are so many instances where you can see the video has been edited...you know that the lion that is eating an impala is not the same lion that was chasing a wildebeest, or suddenly the leopard in a tree is in totally different vegetation!

[Peter Betts]

Thats why some people keep lists ...and drive the tourist rap roads with cell phones in their faces ..Oh I saw 39 lions this week on the Skuk/LS rtar road and once there was only 30 cars there !!

[Richprins]

What is a rap road, Peter?

[Klipspringer]

Here is another problem re expectations of tourists for foto opportunities

https://africageographic.com/blog/there ... -the-line/

[Mel]

Great article

There was an incident with cheetahs jumping onto a vehicle in the KTP a year ago. A huge outcry that that shouldn't have happened.
Basically I agree. But as Average Joe Visitor with no clue what might happen, how do you drive away in time? Or how do you drive
away when you're blocked by other vehicles at the sighting.

[Richprins]

What is wrong with a cheetah jumping onto the vehicle?

[Dzombo]

Got to be honest. But maybe I fall into this category too

I have been to Kruger many many times.
And I know how it works. What you see, is what you see. That’s the way a kruger trip works.
But since I have been living in the UK, a trip is such a treat for me
I have to start booking and planning months in advance. It costs me a fortune - air fair, car hire etc.
And when I have a trip booked, who knows when my next trip will be.

So as a result, I want every trip to be better than the last.
If I have a slow drive, I am disappointed. If I see say a lion, I think, ok, I want to see a leopard next.

Maybe, if I still lived in SA, my approach would be different?