Facing the 'Big Five': Suddenly, you’re a tourist in your old home…

Now, as a new immigrant in Israel, we have been lucky enough to return to our home city of Durban – not only to attend family celebrations, but also, it seems to be a tourist.

By BENITA LEVIN
Mesmerizing: Giraffe in a game reserve north of Durban in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa (photo credit: BENITA LEVIN)
Mesmerizing: Giraffe in a game reserve north of Durban in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
(photo credit: BENITA LEVIN)
Spending time in the outdoors is one of my favorite things to do – its always relaxing being close to nature, especially sitting close to the ocean. As a life coach, I often encourage people to do just that, to help take a break from the stresses of everyday business and work-travel routines. As much as I love being near the mountains or next to a lake, I’d never quite understood the apparent global fascination people have with watching wild animals. Growing up in South Africa, it always amazed me how so many people flocked to the popular game reserves across the country, to try and catch a glimpse of the so called “Big Five” – elephant, lion, buffalo, leopard and rhinoceros. It was never on my “bucket list.”
Now, as an “ola hadasha” (new immigrant) in Israel, we have been lucky enough to return to our home city of Durban – not only to attend family “smachot” (celebrations), but also, it seems to be a tourist.
During a recent trip to the beautiful province of KwaZulu-Natal, an animal-loving relative invited our family into joining them at a local game reserve, a few hours north of Durban. Now that I’m trying to incorporate the more “outspoken” and “assertive” Israeli qualities to daily life, I quickly voiced my concerns – or more accurately, my justified fears about driving through a massive expanse of territory that many wild animals consider to be their home!
Seemingly sent to answer my questions – or my prayers – was a young, enthusiastic, Jewish female game ranger from Pretoria. Louise joined eight of us in the open game vehicle, and calmly tried to convince me – the only openly concerned tourist - that the lions sitting a short distance from our vehicle were unlikely to take any notice of us. She explained that these magnificent but rather scary and determined looking large cats saw the vehicle as one large individual, and so long as no one jumped up, or lunged forward to try to take a photograph, they apparently wouldn’t see us as eight potential meals.
The breathtaking scenery was a soothing distraction from the other wildlife we spotted, with my heart-rate increasing in direct proportion to the size of said animal in front of us. The giraffe were mesmerizing to watch, almost stylish! The buck, warthogs and various birds kept my blood pressure at a fairly normal rate – but the fact that crocodile and hippo were slightly exposed in the water in front of us, was enough to set my pulse racing.
By the time our driver had explained how the cheetah nearby were circling a herd of buck, in preparation for a “kill,” I was trying to exhale quietly, without my children picking up exactly how terrified I was. Once the enthusiastic experts with us starting explaining how an angry elephant can scare off a pride of lions, I was ready to return to the city!
What I did notice though, is how the children loved seeing the various animals up close, seemingly without the same fears that certain adults might share. The people with us also found the experience relaxing and rejuvenating. It made me think, that if I could overcome my initial fears of being in the wild with some of the “Big Five” in my line of vision, then perhaps I could give it a try again, one day.
I had to smile at how I’d only contemplated going on a game drive, because I was now visiting the country as a “tourist.” It made me think that I don’t want to miss out on seeing the country we now call home. I want to visit the fascinating places that tourists visit in Israel as a resident, and don’t want to wait until other visitors arrive to make these plans. But that list may well start with excursions that don’t involve being up close and personal with any wild predators. Well, at least for now….