If You Are Stuck in Serengeti… or Life

So in our trip to Serengeti, we had some amazing different experiences and one of them was being stuck in the middle of the jungle. It started like a normal game day but it had rained pretty good the previous day. We were on the way to see the wildebeest. At one point we saw one of the Land Cruisers stuck in the mud, it was black soil and it was all loose and slushy mud because of the rain. We went ahead and helped the vehicle which was stuck and the mud was so grabbing just like the maya (illusion) we see in our world and then we got stuck there. It was like the mud hugged the vehicle and we couldn’t move a muscle, wheels spinning at the same spot, even 4x4 didn’t help at that time.

Our experienced guide Mr. George was all chilled out and the pilot Mr. Simon’s first time in the jungle and he was pretty cool too. They had all the gear required to get out of the situation. The one whom we helped was with us, there was another vehicle to help us so two safari 4x4 vehicles to help us. We got down from the vehicle and were looking around.

We were looking around and man, we were in the middle of nowhere in Serengeti National Park. I cannot forget that feeling to this day. The landscape, the greenery, it was really an amazing feeling. All the tour guides here got each other’s back, one pulled our vehicle and didn’t succeed, we were there and then the forest rangers showed up. White Toyota SUV, olive green uniform and with a big smile! I had a chat with one of them and he apologized for this situation, I said it’s all fine. Then he asked me where I am from and I go India and he said he will be coming to India to study forestry.

After one and half hours of being stuck in the middle of nowhere, our guides with the help of others, finally got us out. What an adventure! The lesson here is if nature wants you to be somewhere, that even means to be stuck in a career or one particular job, relationship, friendship, family or even in the middle of Serengeti, then you will be there till your time in that place is done. And you move when nature wants you to move. You have to put in all your effort no doubt, meet new people, take help from them because they are sent to help you. In the end… you move when you are supposed to.

Till then, work on whatever that is you are working on, meet all the people who come in your way, watch out for predators, pray and take a lotta pictures and enjoy the view because you won’t get it again. Like the tour guides said with a big smile on their face when we thanked them… “HAKUNA MATATA.”

As a wise man once said on a podcast…

“Nature is the real boss.”