What Guides Talk About Around the Campfire
The last of the engines growls back to camp. Dusk folds into night. A single flame is lit ; then another. Soon, there’s a fire, a kettle, and the slow unspooling of stories under a sky so full of stars, it humbles you.
At Rhodes Tours and Travel Africa, this is one of the moments we hold sacred. Not the safari itself ; though those are unforgettable ; but what happens when it’s over. When the guides gather. The bush is quiet. When the stories begin.
Because the campfire is where the soul of the safari lives.
🐆 “Did you see her?”
The question is almost always about a cat. A leopard draped in gold light. A lioness leading her cubs across the road. A cheetah too fast to follow.
Each guide tells it in their own way ; adding a twist, a laugh, a held breath. The day’s sightings become legend, spoken in low tones over chai and the crackling wood. It’s part reliving, part honoring. Because no two drives are ever the same. And every animal encounter leaves a mark.
🐾 They swap tracks like secrets
A whisper about a hyena print spotted near camp. A debate about the age of an elephant’s dung. A quick sketch of paw prints in the dirt.
This is how knowledge is passed ; not in books or briefings, but in these small, firelit exchanges. One guide mentions hearing a nightjar. Another swears the baboons were restless before the storm. The bush speaks in many ways, and around the fire, they learn its language all over again.
😂 The funny, unforgettable humans
With warmth and affection, the guides trade guest stories like gems. The tourist who whispered “Hakuna Matata” to a lion. The one who packed sunscreen but forgot socks. The couple who cried when they saw elephants for the first time.
These stories aren’t shared to poke fun ; they’re shared because they matter. Because guiding is more than driving. It’s witnessing awe, every single day, through someone else’s eyes.
🌍 The things that aren’t said on game drives
Then come the quiet conversations. About how climate change is shifting migration patterns. On land loss and local conservation efforts. About the weight of watching wild spaces shrink.
For many guides, this isn’t just work ; it’s family land, ancestral paths, home. Around the campfire, they carry that weight together.
Under the African Sky
When you next go on safari, listen closely after the sun sets. Not just to the hyenas calling or the wind in the grass ; but to your guide’s stories. Ask them what they talk about when the guests go to sleep and the fire is all that’s left.
You might hear the heart of Africa speaking back.
