Whenever I have thought of an African Safari, I pictured scorching heat, loads of sunscreen, sweat, and khakis.  This wasn't quite that.  It was FREEZING!  But wow, what an adventure.  I traveled to a private game reserve with a missions team from George Fox University who invited me to join their overnight safari!  This was an answer to prayer for me because I wasn't going to be able to afford a safari of any kind, and they literally called me invited me, and said they wanted to TREAT ME!  It was so amazing and I am still in shock (these things aren't cheap)!  At 2pm we went on our first game drive with our wonderful guide, Julian.  There were about four trucks that set out and the seats are similar to the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland!  The roads are uneven, rocky, muddy, wet, and windy, so the ride alone is adventure enough!  The first crazy thing that happened was that a good ol' elephant walked near our truck and we were all like, "Oh.....!" Then he kept coming, and coming and eventually I had a trunk right in my face!!! He smelled something he wanted!! It was hilarious because he just kept walking and all of a sudden there was his trunk!  We had driven about 10 minutes and we stopped to look at some buffalo...when....our truck wouldn't start...SO...the guys got out to push start the truck, meanwhile, the buffalo kept coming closer and closer...Finally the truck started and we were off!! The next morning we got up early for another game drive.  During the first one we saw elephants, zebra, rhino, buffalo, wildebeest, springbok, and then we saw giraffe and lions the second day.  The lion came chasing after our truck!  It was quite an adventure and I can now never go to  a zoo because it just won't compare!