Item #15

“No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home

and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.”

-Lin Yutang

Since having this blog, I have revealed a lot about myself. I have shared my likes and dislikes, parts of my childhood, plans for my future, etc. Now, I am going to get even more personal by sharing my dreams with you. At least what I think is a dream…

This might sound weird, especially since I haven’t provided relatively any context to the subject, but I can’t remember if I have rode an elephant before. I know when I was younger and used to go to the zoo often, I would ride the camels all the time. But I can’t remember if there was an attraction at my local zoo where I got to ride on top of an elephant or not. I have this vivid image in my head and I feel like I have, but I have no actual recollection of it. That is why I think this “memory” that I have of riding an elephant is nothing but a dream, that I somehow morphed into an actual memory. Yet, I’m still not entirely convinced because this “memory” has such a realness to it, that it doesn’t feel like a dream. Yet, I know it probably is one, since I have looked back at my zoo’s website and it says nothing about offering elephant rides to visitors. I even went as far as to look at every zoo’s website I have ever gone to, to see if they offered it instead, and still no luck. However, dream or not, my fifteenth item on my bucket list is too ride an elephant and or travel to the Savanna, preferably both. Like I mentioned earlier, I went to the zoo a lot when I was younger since both me and my sister were huge animal fanatics. We loved almost every animal there was and being able to see them at the zoo at a fairly close range was always so exciting. Even though I have grown up quite a bit since my younger years, I still love animals just the same and it would be amazing to see some of them actually up close and personal on a safari trip.

Now, safari trips can range widely in cost. It mostly depends on what you are doing, how long you are staying, and the level of luxury you are willing to pay. However despite all this, safari trips still are usually on the more expensive side, sometimes ranging from $800 to $1000 dollars a night. But a good way to save money and get a better deal is to go off-season for a safari trip. During this time, the weather is cooler, animal sightings are better, and prices are lower. Upon my research, the best off-season destination for a safari trip is South Africa during the May-July winter months. Here, I was able to find a trip at the Samara Private Game Reserve, a ten-suite lodge, that costs only $175 dollars per person per night. Although the reserve has only rhinos, cheetahs, antelopes, and zebras, there is an elephant park called the Addo National Elephant Park, that is just three hours away. Thus, checking off both parts to my bucket list item. A round trip flight to Johannesburg, South Africa which is the closest airport to the Reserve is only $1,167 dollars. In addition to the $175 dollars a night, if I were to stay there a total of five nights, then that would only cost $2,042 dollars. Which is pretty cheap considering that I could have been paying up to a $1000 dollars a night. A real dream come true!