After last week’s provocative post on assumptions about Africa, it only felt right to throw in a heavily stereotypical post about life lessons I learnt in the jungle. You know, just to confuse you all.
My dearest readers, I hope you have a nice cup of tea or a drink to go with this post because things are about to get real. As a proudly African blogger, I was extremely excited to go on a family excursion to a safari. It felt like a breath of fresh air after spending so many months locked up inside, but not for the reasons you may be thinking. If you’re a blogger too, you know that the first thing that pops into mind is content. When you go to the grocery store and someone bumps into you, you write a blog post about it. If you ate a banana split, you concoct different blogging ideas based on your meal.
Well, my jungle experience made me realise a few things about myself.

The catch
When my father-in-law invited us on a road trip, I wasn’t quite aware that it included a stay in a lodge… in the middle of a safari. Now here’s the thing, staying in a lodge is always a fun experience regardless of where you are. But the minute you are warned to be on high alert for animals and not to head outside after it gets dark, you would be crazy not to freak out.
Ironically, my two-year-old was excited to see warthogs munching on the grass outside our window. She even wanted me to catch one of the monkeys in the trees and take her to pet the impalas! Oh, how nice life must be when you are so naive…
This is extremely important for two reasons:
- It sets the foundation for the life lessons I learnt.
- It might make you think twice before making assumptions about Africans

Numero uno of the life lessons: Nature can help your mental health
This one is a no-brainer. If you are stressed out and need a break, take some time out away from the city. We all know that to be the case, but most of us do it with electronics, at a beach, and take lots of selfies. You would get a completely different experience if you went somewhere less commercial and left all of the connections to modern society behind.
I don’t do camping, but there was something really nice about sitting around a fire and watching the flames burn. The fresh air and greenery seemed to clear my mind, and listening to birds chirping while I lay in bed felt quite therapeutic. I have also never slept as well as I did over the three day stay. As someone with insomnia, that was quite an interesting realisation. Maybe it is about time I lived in the jungle?
Internet takes away from bonding time
So, remember when I said we drove into a safari for a few days? Well, the place didn’t have wifi. Let that sink in.
As a millennial, the internet is part of my DNA. In fact, most times I turn to Dr. Google before I even consider visiting my GP! Long story short, the internet is really important for many components of my life. And I don’t say that in a bratty way. Without the internet, I can’t blog, work, or find quick health solutions when needed.
So no wifi – why not just use my data? Well, there wasn’t wifi because there was no signal, not because the lodge didn’t pay for it. So automatically, finding signal to even take a call became a Dora the Explora mission.
As a result of not having easy access to the internet, I spent quite a bit of time talking to my real-life people. It actually felt weird to an extent, but it was also a great experience. There also happened to be no TV in sight, so we really got to experience the jungle for what it was. Well, outside of the cabin, that is.
Have you taken some time away from the internet to just exist in your reality?
Phobias can worsen with time
As a child, I watched a movie about a black widow spider that crawled into people’s shoes and stung them. In that same movie, a little girl nearly died from the venom of the creepy crawly. Almost twenty years later, that movie is still engrained in my brain. If I see a spider web, my skin crawls and just the tough of one makes my heart race. The only spider I like is the one in Marvel… you know, Spider-Man!
When my husband and I went on a safari drive in an open-top jeep, I found myself wishing he would drop the camera and hold me. Of course, it was such a fun experience, but with spiders everywhere, I was almost certain I would return to my daughter with superpowers – if at all! I didn’t care that there were lions just inches away from us in an open jeep. I didn’t care that there were cheetahs roaming free. All that I could think about was how to keep the spiders out of my hair and away from me.
Just to take the focus away from the spiders, here’s a mama lion sizing us up for dinner. Spoiler alert, we weren’t up to her standards. How cool is that?
I don’t actually love camping
I have always considered myself to be an animal lover. In fact, I’m almost certain that I spent more time with my dogs as a child than I did with friends. Animals are amazing; they don’t judge, they are affectionate and very simplistic. If I could, I would probably even switch out my grumpy colleagues for a litter of puppies!
But I digress.
Sleeping in the jungle, on a comfy king-sized bed is not the same as camping. It is also not a similar experience when you have both a fan and an air conditioner unit conveniently placed in your room for comfort. My father-in-law must’ve guessed that about me, or shares the same sentiments because he made sure that nature did not make it into our beds.
When we actually went on the safari we were one with the wild. But that only worked in small doses.
Why am I mentioning this? Well, it goes back to the stereotypes about Africa. We are definitely living in such a nature-filled continent, but that does not mean we are happy without the common comforts of modernisation. This wasn’t one of my life lessons, but I thought I would throw it in for the few who think that Africans sleep on animals and bath in rivers.
Ok, I’ll stop being cheeky and show you another cool part of being on a game reserve… This big fella was munching on some trees not too far from our cabin!

And with that, I’ll call it a day.
Oh wow! Thanks for sharing that video, I loved it! Hey I was curious, isn’t it very dangerous to stay so close to a lion😅 I’ve seen a lion only once in my life when I was 5 I guess. And that was so cute when she was rolling on the grass😍 I love animals just so much! I wish I could also enjoy a safari in India
😀 I’m glad you enjoyed it 🙂
And yes it is dangerous but apparently the lions won’t attack during the day unless they are provoked or feel as though something is threatening them. We basically had to sit in the car very still and let them just look at us.
Hopefully one day you can come to Africa and do one here 😉
Ooh nice! That would be really awesome!
What a wonderful experience it is ❤❤😍😍
You must have enjoyed a lot
Ps- so which one is your pet 🤔🤔😂😂😉
OMG Vani! You really want to know? You might get jealous… but they are all mine 😛
Haha, the more the merrier 😄
This is fabulous. I love so many of the animals that are native to Africa. There’s something so majestic about giraffes and lions. Here in North America, we just have to stick to bears. They’re cute but also very dangerous.
I am with you on the camping but I also enjoy a good campfire.
The only time we’ve gone without Internet for any stretch was on our two cruises. On-board Internet access cost the earth so we didn’t bother. It was nice to have a break.
I’ve never seen a bear in my life. And squirrels are things we only see in cartoons… Raccoons too. So it’s safe to say that we each have a selection of stuffed animals that is unique to our region. I’d love to see a bear some day! lol
That must’ve been such a lovely cruise!
We have squirrels, raccoons and rabbits living in our back garden. Luckily, we don’t usually have bears where we live. You need to be 2 or 3 hours north of here to get into bear country. When we were on vacation years ago, they warned us when we checked into our cabin that there was a mama bear and three cubs roaming around the area. The next day when we arrived back, there were the cubs playing in the trees beside the parking lot. My daughter, who was about 18 months old at the time exclaimed “TEDDY”. I think she wanted to play with them. We sat quietly in the car and waited for them to leave. We didn’t want to be mama bear’s dinner.
I’m not sure how I would handle being around a bunch of people without internet. It’s a coping mechanism for my anxiety, which I’m aware takes away from me fully living in the moment.
Hahah I know what you mean. It isn’t easy for most of us millennials and Gen whatever the heck came after us 😀
The lioness and her cubs; beautiful 😀
I think the beauty of it is seeing just how simplistic that relationship was… and not being eaten of course XD
These pictures are gorgeous! What an incredible experience! And you are so right about nature being a balm for the mind and soul.
Thanks Suzanne 🙂 It was definitely a great experience that I think we all need!
Amazing post Shelly thanks for sharing the video!!!!! I have ever been to a game reserve! I love ❤️ animals so much!! The actually only safari I have been in my life are desert safaris in my home country UAE. I love camping in the desert but not other types of camping 😂 great post Shelly
Thanks Maya 😀 I’m glad you enjoyed it!
How do dessert safaris work? It might sound like a silly question, but aren’t there only camels and snakes in the dessert?
Wow that video is crazy cool!!! If that was me I’d be shaking and keeping my eye on that mama lion wooah… You’re brave!! Was it just your family on that tour?? Does the guide tell you what will happen in the event an animal pounces??
Also, that giraffe, wowww so majestic.. You don’t realize how big they are until you see them munching on trees the way we much on Broccoli!!!! 👀😱😱😱😲
Hahahah so basically it was just hubby as me on the ride. It was a bit of a dumb move to be honest, especially since if the lion decided to have dinner, my daughter would have a very strange story to tell 😅
Absolutely no safety guidelines were given… that is, until I decided it would be cool to start speaking to the lion 😂 Life tip – don’t ever try that. Let them ignore you!
As for the giraffe, you’re right! I never realized how big they were until I saw them in person 😅
omg shelly, now I want to go after seeing your video💖❣️
Hahah you’re most welcome to come to South Africa. I’ll take you on a safari!
Oh I would LOVE that Shelly❣️❣️
In Ranthambore, India – I guess I simply gained a deeper appreciation for the beauty in this world and what a privilege it has become to be able to experience it. The closer we get and the more time we spend in nature, the simpler life seems, the more apparent all of our ‘life-clutter’ becomes.