A Biking Safari Is the Finest Technique to See Wildlife in Africa

If there was a loyalty program for safaris, I’d have million-miler standing. I can recite the security speech verbatim (maintain all physique components contained in the Land Cruiser if you wish to maintain all physique components), inform the distinction between female and male giraffes (girls have furrier ossicones, or horns), and arrange a shocking sundowner (pink tonic water is the key to picture-perfect gin and tonics). I’ve flown in helicopters over elephant herds in Botswana, navigated hippo-infested waters by wood canoe in Zambia, and watched kudu graze from the consolation of my non-public plunge pool at a five-star camp close to Kruger Nationwide Park. However when you ask me about my favourite technique to see the Huge 5, chances are you’ll be shocked. It includes padded shorts, PBJs paired with Fanta, and climbing into ice baths as chilly because the African solar is scorching.

Are biking safaris secure?

“How dangerous is that this?” I requested the primary time I went on a biking safari. Kyle MacIntyre, our Pure Choice safari information who was raised in rural Botswana, handed me a helmet and smiled. “Biking is a really pure and pure type of being within the bush,” he stated, concurrently dodging the query and assuring me. I took consolation within the rifle—able to taking down a bull elephant, however by no means wanted—mounted to his mountain bike. “You possibly can hear all of the alarm calls from the birds, the snapping of twigs, and since most animals will not be by the busy roads, you’ve got a greater likelihood of seeing them by bike.” MacIntyre wasn’t unsuitable. Within the 4 days we spent biking and tenting collectively within the Kalahari Desert, I seen the wildlife both eyed our two-wheeled endeavors with curiosity or indifference. They undoubtedly didn’t see us as meals.

Why guide a biking safari?

My first biking safari was so riveting, I now favor recreation rides to recreation drives. On a recreation journey, you possibly can’t sit back the way in which you possibly can on a drive. All 5 senses need to be firing directly. It’s equal components exhilarating and exhausting. And within the case of my most up-to-date biking safari this previous October—the inaugural Wagora Bike Experience at Singita Discover—I made lifelong pals and pedaled for a goal. As a substitute of simply seeing the Huge 5, we have been saving them.

“Able to journey?” requested Braya Masunga, operations supervisor at Singita Discover. Masunga, who greeted my cousin, Rosie, and me with welcome drinks and funky towels, gained’t let you know, however Singita Discover is the luxurious tented camp the place Leonardo DiCaprio stays when he’s in Tanzania. You gained’t discover any paparazzi in these components—simply the continent’s coolest anti-poaching unit. In truth, the five-day biking safari we have been about to embark on is called after Kitaboka Wagora, an anti-poaching scout who was murdered by a poacher in 2008. Proceeds from the Wagora Bike Experience are donated to the Grumeti Fund, a non-profit that employs almost 100 anti-poaching scouts tasked with defending wildlife on this 350,000-acre part of the Serengeti.

What does a typical day on a biking safari appear to be?

Like recreation drives, recreation rides begin early. Luckily, rising and shining within the bush is simple. Singita Discover’s cooks have espresso brewing over the open fireplace and a carb-heavy unfold ready for us. With the assistance of a headlamp, the on-site bicycle mechanic, a Kenyan named Godfrey, makes positive our tires are adequately aired and prepared for the day’s 20 miles. The purpose is to be biking no later than dawn. That is when it’s coolest, and the animals are most energetic.

Sporting matching biking jerseys, our peloton is a motley crew. I’m an avid roadie who discovered learn how to journey from my buddy, the 17-time Tour de France legend, George Hincapie. In the meantime, Rosie barely feels snug on a seaside cruiser. Skyler Nuelle—the Grumeti Fund’s head of partnerships and impression evaluation—just lately mountain biked up Mount Kilimanjaro in a four-day stage race, and Vicky Mkessa, packages coordinator for the Grumeti Fund, has by no means been on a motorcycle earlier than. We’re escorted by a few safari guides who can observe and inform us concerning the animals we’ll see, and not less than 5 armed anti-poaching scouts, most of whom don’t communicate English. We could not communicate the identical languages, however there’s one thing about using in a bunch—taking turns breaking the wind for one another—that bonds us in methods bumping round in a automobile by no means would.

In Botswana, we cycled on “elephant highways”—well-trodden paths made by Africa’s greatest 5. However right here in Tanzania, we’re using on a mixture of dust roads and single-track paths winding by means of the Grumeti Recreation Reserve, grasslands house to lions, leopards, cheetahs, elephants, hyenas, zebras, giraffes, wildebeests, buffalo, and the uncommon jap black rhino. We see every part besides leopards and cheetahs as we journey. My favourite sighting is a pair of lions we watch by means of binoculars at one in all our relaxation stops. Most biking safaris characteristic refreshment tables—lined with orange slices, PB&Js, and soda—roughly each eight miles. If you want to use the lavatory, you discover a tree.

I like figuring out and seeing wildlife on the similar time. It makes me really feel much less responsible about indulging within the Instagram-worthy brunch ready for us once we journey again into camp. However earlier than diving into the buffet, we dunk ourselves in ice baths. After refueling, it’s time for a nap and therapeutic massage, adopted by afternoon tea and a recreation drive. We return round darkish and talk about the following morning’s journey and route over a multicourse dinner match for Mr. DiCaprio. Full bellies, sore legs, and comfortable hearts, we’re all wanting ahead to tomorrow’s 5 a.m. wake-up name. There’s one thing about being on a motorcycle that brings you again to childhood, and we are able to’t wait to really feel like youngsters once more (particularly if it means we get to observe “The Lion King” in actual life).