So, cheri, guess what I did last weekend? That’s right, I donned my safari hat to head out into the wild & bring you back some pictures of the real, true Africa –– & yes, to get a taste of it myself.

Safaris are funny things. Let me just tell you now, if you’ve never been on one before, they are not as action-packed as you’d think. In fact, to get a good sampling of all there is to see, you must drive around for hours & hours & explore as much territory as possible. For every close-up, jump-out-of-your-skin sighting, there is about one hour of spotting absolutely nothing. In fact, I’ve come up with a little equation for you to help demonstrate my point:

10 faraway spottings + 50 elephant/rhino/hippo shaped rocks + 75 wildebeest sightings (they were everywhere! And so ugly!) / 1 hour = 1 animal sighting worth screaming about.

All the while, you’re driving on roads that no car was ever meant to traverse. Though I’ve never driven during an earthquake before, I imagine the feeling was much the same.

And yet, somehow, it’s worth it. The bumpy roads, the less-than-action-packed-agenda, spending sunup to sundown in the car (we left at 6 a.m. and got back at nearly 9), it’s all made okay when an elephant crosses the road right in front of you or you spot a baby giraffe. And that’s the honest truth.

Darn wildebeests.