I think Johan will agree with me the issue here is not necessarily to be the fastest, but to not be the slowest.
One of the most interesting times in my life was in Kenya in 1993 ? on a multi-day walking safari to explore a new area near the base of Mt. Kilimanjaro to determine its potential for walking / camping safaris. A garrulous old hippo chasing a younger one (he had killed another youth a few days previously,) veered off from his original chase and headed for us (just before dawn and we were walking between him and "his" river.) We four headed off in different directions (trying to remember not to head for big brushy areas that would make a good lie-up for lion, not to mention the six foot Egyptian cobra we had come across the previous day,) and met up later - our Maasai guide was never seen again. (A year or so later, when walking safaris were offered in this area, a woman from northern California was caught by this hippo and put in hospital for a long time - also cancelling my friends' plans to offer these here.)
I also became an "African illegal" here - swam to Tanzania and back in Lake Chala, and had an interesting time in "Grogan's Castle," a strange castle-like place full of hidey holes and a barred room like a jail cell to protect the occupant not far from Taveta, designed and dwelled in by a rather paranoid and strange man by the name of Grogan, and an old agave plantation where they were making sisal rope and the like with the original pre-1900 machinery.
Walking doesn't produce more game, but it allows you to slow down, look at the small stuff, learn tracking and spoor, and IMO reveals a much more personal perspective as you use all of your senses to explore. It's a bit more of a challenge to stalk rhinos, photograph them, and leave - with their remaining completely unaware of your presence. You get to see their tracks, middens, smell them, hear them... and my memories are much sharper precisely because the planning and thinking, the multi-sensory approach, embed themselves more deeply than a "drive by" in a Land Cruiser.
But I subscribe to the "fewer is better" theory - two or three people on a game walk is so much better than a herd of travellers; you can remain quieter, follow up on your own interests more effectively when there are not many lobbying for their own ideas, and participate in a more deeply personal experience.
Quote:
Originally Posted by zanzibar
The one advantage of having more people in a game walk is that just in case of an attack, your probability of becoming food is much lower:-)
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