How it feels to wake up in Africa

It’s pitch black dark when I hear something rummaging around outside the canvas sides of our room. A distant voice is calling “good morning, Mr & Mrs Sorensen – time to wake up”. It’s way too early and too dark for me to reply but somehow I manage a grunt and I hear the man move on to the next building…..

I turn on the light and check the spider who resides above our heads. It’s huge! The first night we wanted to kill it, but then we realised that if one huge spider can find it’s way to the inside of our luxury tent another one probably also can. So we left and reassured each other that it does eat flies and mosquitoes (and quite a lot considering it’s size!). Every morning I check – and every morning it sits above our heads on ALMOST the same spot as yesterday. I try not to think about where it went to get to the new spot….

The light wakes up my other half. He is no morning person. At all. And we are talking about the light being switched on at 5AM!

Elefants drinking water, South Africa

We’re on safari in South Africa. We’ve been on safaris before and the same always happens. Before we leave Denmark he complaints about the early mornings and how horrible it is to get up before sunrise (and fall asleep right after dinner!)  – but when we get there and it’s time to spot the animals he’s the first one out in the car with his hat, his camera and his binoculars.

We dress – in many layers – and put on sunscreen. It’s weird to put on all your clothes and sunscreen at the same time. But it’s freezing cold    and layers are the only way to get through the next few hours until the sun rises. And when the darkness melts away and the sun takes over sunscreen is essential. A quick cup of coffee and a “rusk” later we’re ready.

Lioness with cubs, South Africa

We find our seats in the landrover, wrap the blankets around us and get ready to rumble.

They’re quite magic – those crispy mornings in Africa. Everything is fresh and new, The dew is heavy on the leaves, the stars are almost gone and the air is so clean and fresh it’s hard to explain. You know battles have happened during the night. Perhaps you even heard the lions roar or the buffalos run – but it’s till their story. And you’re about to get a tiny glimpse of a different world.

Well dressed for the cold morning, South Africa

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