5 things we learned by going on Safari

1. Ryan is not (severely) allergic to African wasps.

A second point he learned in the same instance was to always inspect pit latrines for wasp nests BEFORE going in to pee. Ryan learned this the hard way, and before escaping the choo (toilet), got two good stings in the face and one in the leg. Luckily, my dad's severe hayfever finally paid off, and there were plenty of anti-histamines on hand. He still looked like a proboscis monkey for a few days though. (Pictures forthcoming)

2. Monkeys' love of bananas is not just a cliche (and they are very adept at stealing them)

We found this one out when a vervet monkey ran in the back window of the land rover, through all of us to the front seat, opened up a lunch box, grabbed a left-over banana then hopped out the driver's window. He then disappered into a bush, only to reappear a few minutes later happily chewing a cud of banana.

3. The proper procedure in the event of a leopard attack.

Apparently, leopards only attack from the back (lions from the front), so if you feel something on your back, it's most assuredly a leopard. You are supposed to grab it by the legs, swing it over your head and slam it down on the ground. Then you grab its front leg, rip it off (apparently this is easy to do) and beat the leopard senseless with it. Yeah, right.....

4. Don't try to drive down a road that's become a raging river, and don't try to pull a stuck land rover out in a borrowed car. You CAN over torque and break an axle.

This one is pretty self explanatory. We were the ones trying to help.

5. Seeing a million wildebeest and zebra migrating across shortgrass plans dotted with acacia trees NEVER gets old.