I Love My Job

I love it when:

people applause at the end of my ride!

little kids tell me my safari was "wonderful!"

little kids cry when they "have" to get off at the end of the ride.  "But it was too much fun!"

the gorilla (who looks exactly like Kerchak from Tarzan) is out in the morning or evening and I can go over and watch him for a few seconds.

the animals walk in front of the road up ahead and my guests freak out. "Oh my gosh!  Look!  There's giraffe in the road!  Oh my goodness, we have to take a picture of this!  I'm sure it never happens." False.

a group of like thirty safari drivers start at the same time and together we take up about half of the bus going back to the Pride Rock

I come around the corner at the end of the ride to "Little Red" and everyone on the truck, in unison, goes "Awwwww!"

I hear the parents making sure their kids are learning from what I'm saying. "Did you hear that?  Those Ankole cattle use their horns to cool off!  Cool!"

I talk to guests on land and tell them that I drive the trucks too and they act all surprised like it's a really big deal!

children (and actually adults) ask the following questions about reality:

"Were there really poachers?"

"Is that a real tree?"

"Are those rhinos for real?"

"Is this ride on a track?"

"Are those ostrich eggs real?"

"What are the cattle guards for?"

"How do you get the birds to stay without flying away?" (they can indeed fly away... you would never guess how we do this actually!)

"How do the lions stay with the addax without eating them?"  I once had a mom ask me this, wondering, "So do you just let nature take it's course out there?"  I just love that it is so hard for guests to figure out just exactly how we do it.  Usually it's a little girl around the age of ten asking this question. (it's okay, we don't let the lions kill the animals who are endangered... we have our ways)  And yes, I went around today to see the cheetah eating a recent kill.  Very nice...

And my personal favorite.  "So do you chain the animals to the ground to keep them in the proper places?"  How inhumane do you think we are!? What part of "free roaming" reserve do you not understand?

I love my job!