If you have ever taken an overland journey across Africa then you have experienced the joy and wonder of a Safari. However, this was not always the case as traditionally a Safari referred to a big game hunt. However, with the changing attitudes and the more eco friendly approach of modern day society almost all safaris in this day and age only consist of shooting photos of the wildlife and not shooting guns at the wildlife.

The origins of the word Safari

It was roughly in the middle to late 19th century that the Swahili word Safari was first used in the English language. It was one of many incorporated into the “Queens English” at this time because of the influence of foreign languages and cultures on the largest empire the world has ever known, the British Empire.

The original Swahili word however was also borrowed from a foreign language, this being Arabic, and is an extension of the word safra, which means “journey”. It was incorporated into the Swahili word kusafiri which means “to travel” and the noun for this word is safari. This word is still in everyday use in Kenya today as it is used there to describe any journey, be it a bus trip to the capital of Nairobi or a 4×4 journey to Mombasa.

Did you know?

The famous British explorer Sir Richard Francis Burton is credited as being the first English speaking person to use the word in its modern English context.

Safaris in Africa today

Across the entire continent of Africa there are a number of operators that offer a number of different safari services that range from lodge based tours that consist of daily overland travel from camp to camp to air safaris in which clients fly into remote areas and travel out from a central “base camp”. Almost all modern day safaris also include game walks that are undertaken with trained game wardens and game rangers as well as game guides skilled in both animal lore and tracking and African story telling. All of these modern day safaris are run with a strong eco friendly ethos and almost all game and safari operators very seldom allow hunting in the reserve areas unless for medical or over population culling purposes.

The Safari Culture

There is a certain dress sense associated with the word safari thanks not only to the English way of dressing while on the African continent in the late 1800’s, but also thanks to the way Hollywood has portrayed it over the past 100 years. This dress style became very well known under the term “safari chick” after the release of the film Out of Africa staring Meryl Streep and Robert Redford.