A safari isn’t just about stunning landscapes and wildlife encounters. One of the many highlights of a game drive can actually be the bush breakfast or lunch. In many parks, there are dedicated picnic sites - places where you can finally get out of the car, stretch your legs, and sit down, often with restrooms nearby. Some are fenced, allowing you to walk around freely. Others are simply a designated spot in the park, where the wild remains very much present. And that, of course, adds an extra flavour to your packed lunch.

Take trying to enjoy your sandwich, for instance, while keeping an eye out for incredibly naughty monkeys determined to steal a free meal. These clever animals frequently hang around picnic sites and safari vehicles waiting for a chance to grab your lunch. The cheeky thieves show absolutely no respect or fear - not for guides, not for tourists, and certainly not for the lady walking around with a slingshot trying to keep them away. They are unbelievably quick and quiet; the moment you unwrap your sandwich, there might be a little hand grabbing the entire meal right in front of your eyes.

In the Ngorongoro Crater, there’s a beautiful picnic spot that unexpectedly offers what might be the coolest mobile coffee shop you’ve ever seen. It’s in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the wild. No fences. Just a few picnic tables set up by the lake, which - by the way - is also home to a resident hippo pod. I asked my guide what people should do if a predator suddenly came wandering through. “Everyone just leaves everything and runs for the cars.” At that point, I was perfectly happy enjoying my lunch box and the view from the rooftop of the car.

My favourite picnic setting, however, is outside the official sites. Maybe on a small hill among some kopjes in the Serengeti, or along the shore of Lake Eyasi. Even so, I would probably prefer to enjoy my lunch inside the car, or on top of it. I can all too vividly imagine that pride of lions invisibly lurking in the grass just meters away. 

And then there are those other needs of nature that must be taken care of. Let's be honest, being on a game drive means being essentially trapped inside a vehicle for hours. The environment poses so many potential dangers that you simply can't hop out whenever you feel like it, not to mention wandering off for a classic bush toilet behind the nearest acacia tree. So what do you do?

You follow your guide's instructions. He knows where it’s safe and where it isn’t. But wandering off the track to find a proper bush for cover, the way you would at home, is probably never going to be an option.

“Yes, you can go here - but stay behind the car, be quick, and keep looking around”. In that situation, being quick is unlikely to be a problem, for many reasons. 

It’s fascinating how you can be driving peacefully through the grasslands of the Ngorongoro Crater, feeling that in this exact little moment, life is perfect. The temperature is perfect. The scenery is perfect. You have nowhere to be and nothing to do, except be present. Everything is simply peaceful. And then, right in the middle of this watercolour painting of one of the world’s most stunning landscapes, nature calls. It delivers the most wonderful reality check by injecting a sharp element of danger into the moment, when your guide tells you “This is not a good place to stop. Can you wait a little?”

So you sit back, cross your legs a little tighter, and watch the flamingos in the lake. It's all just part of the adventure.