Safari Guide Stories with Jared Povall & Sherwin Banda

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Picture this: You’re sitting in a covered safari vehicle, looking out across vast plains and grasslands…

It’s early in the morning, the air is crisp and cold. You don’t feel the chill since your onion-like layers of clothing are keeping your body warm and cozy. The vehicle bumps along, jostling the Tracker sitting in a lone chair on the very front. Suddenly your face splits into a huge grin as your Safari Guide says the words you’ve been waiting all your life to hear:

“We’ve found them… lions!”

Your heart starts to race and you quickly pull out your camera and then…there they are. Two beautiful lions striding through the grass. The people next to you go silent, completely awestruck. Your dream has come true: You’ve seen African lions in the wild.

These are the moments a Safari Guide lives for. To see the group of people in the safari vehicle totally overcome by the sight of a lion, an elephant, a giraffe, or any myriad number of incredible animals who call Africa – and Africa alone – home. Guiding is something of a dream job for kids growing up in South Africa. At least, for Jared Povall:

“When you’re five or six years old and people say, ‘What would you like to be?’ and you want to be a firefighter, a police officer, a pilot, those sort of glitz and glamour jobs… I could liken being a Guide to that. It’s this incredible lifestyle and you’re living out in the bush, you’re going on these game drives and walks every day, you go to sleep listening to lions and hyenas calling…”

Jared represents the Dulini Lodges in South Africa. These beautiful safari lodges are located in the Sabi Sand Nature Reserve, very close to the world-famous Kruger National Park. Before representing Dulini on the sales side, he worked many years as a full-time Safari Guide. He loved the lifestyle and found it rewarding, even after long days spent tracking game.

“It is a tough lifestyle to live” says Jared. “You work really long hours and workdays. You sort of drive… tracking and finding a pride of lions and you eventually find them and you and your Tracker are super excited that you’ve managed to do this for the guests in the back of the vehicle.

“You can be on day 50 of a 55-day cycle and you turn around to see these smiles and you’re like, ‘This is why I do what I do.’ That pure emotion and joy that guests show is what brings you back every day.”

Jared also shares a few of the extra tips he always encouraged his guests to do when out on safari. One of which is to leave the sanctuary of the safari vehicle and get out on foot.

“Some people are too scared to do it, but most people are happy to get out” laughs Jared. “You’re suddenly now walking and you can hear the birds, you can hear the wind blowing through the trees because you don’t have this vehicle that you’re driving around on.” Jared says this mode of transportation change does wonders for full immersion in the ecosystem.

“Your senses are just super heightened to absolutely everything… like it’s a sensory overload experience being on foot in the bush. We always encourage our guests as much as possible to get out of the vehicle, get walking, and get exploring animals on foot.”

He says walking in silence is key not only to being fully present in the moment, but also to be respectful of the animals. “You always try to walk and watch animals and get away from [them] without them knowing you were ever there. Animals are naturally quite scared of humans on foot from years and years of being hunted and just [seeing] this different thing walking on two legs… most of the time [if animals] see a human on foot they’re going to run away. You very much want to be able to keep as much sensitivity towards them as possible by not letting them smell you, see you, or hear you. So, it’s very quiet and you kind of get into your own head a little bit – which is for some people is really nice, for some people not so nice. But it is something I always encourage.”

Listen in to our interview with Jared Povall of Dulini and Sherwin Banda of African Travel to hear more great stories, tips, and insider perspectives from a former Safari Guide!