Bush walks are great and a unique experience. Everything seems very different compared to a vehicle, you notice the fresh air and the life of an animal. The grass you looked down to from the car that looked short will now be up to your knees, and the 10km distance you could see is now barely a meter, that is how much the perspective changes.
I became a qualified guide/ game ranger in 2008, and I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it. The days usually consisted of a good long morning walk, studies under the shade in the heat of the day and in the afternoon / evening we did a safari drive. It was unforgettable, and often I felt like redoing the course just because I could, but it was then I had already decided being a walking guide was not for me. The responsibility of the other people that are with you and never really know what they might do bothered me, so I stuck to non-dangerous game walking areas (areas without lions, leopards, elephants, buffalo and rhinos) and game drives in dangerous areas, this was personal preference.
Bush walks / big game walks are fantastic though, I often go as a guest when I go on holidays to different parks as I really do enjoy the walks, I have been fortunate to have never had a hair-raising experience on any of them and all have been great fun. I have done many walks in the Okavango Delta in Botswana, been around giraffes, hippos, rhinos many antelope species and birds but often this get out shined by the smaller sometime more interesting insects and plants.
Often on walks you don’t get too see as much as you would have by car due to distance travelled, but this experience is really quality over quantity, and you get to concentrate on things you would often miss on a game drive, not to mention the quiet, no heavy diesel 4×4 motor running in the background, just nature and fresh air.
