The Longleat House in Warminster, Britain, was the UK’s first drive-through safari park. Since most people across the world are home-bound, the route has gone digital. An online African safari is a godsend for people like me stranded on my couch with just my smartphone. Even better, Katiya wouldn’t let me roam the savannah unescorted: she is my virtual guide at Longleat, bubbling with information and anecdotes.
I started with a bird’s eye view of the massive estate, which was first opened to the public in the time of the Beatles and LSD. First to arrive at the estate was the King of the Jungle—all 50 of them, in 1966. The camera shows them roaming the grounds, though tamed. No longer hunters, they are gatherers now, who run after the supply vehicle, which drops chunks of meat down a chute for them. Katiya—with her vocal presence—shows me European grey wolves, nudges my attention to the massive Siberian tigers yawning showing their fangs and points at the Mo Farah of big cats, the cheetah.
As Katiya takes me along the bytes of big cats, pun intended, an unmistakable sound suddenly fills the air. Primates! Anthropologists and animal scientists say they are closest to humans in the evolution chain. I find the monkeys jumping on top of the safari vehicles, leaving me to ponder whether the distance between man and animal is only a thin metal line.
Though, just a voice, Katiya’s repertoire of fascinating tidbits is unending. For example, the delicate Chilean Flamingo gets its lovely bright pink plumage by feasting on algae and shrimps. She also solves the age-old riddle of the zebra’s stripes—its skin is actually black while the stripes are the white part. Imagine that. Katiya’s encyclopaedia of wildlife trivia is both informative and impressive like the fact that zebras communicate through facial expressions. The eyes of an ostrich are bigger than its brain.
The lilting voice then introduced me to the conscience of Longleat House—Anne—the resident Asian elephant. After performing at a circus for close to 50 years, Longleat is now her sanctuary. It is enchanting to see her playing circus games in the company of her keepers and a herd of awed goats. Anne’s competition in the size department is a Southern white rhino. Scientists at Longleat are trying to breed this almost extinct animal in captivity “so that they can be preserved,” says Katiya.
From the two-humped Bactrian camel, scimitar horned oryx, roan antelope, the unique reddish brown ankole cattle to the pink-backed pelicans, the menacing African white-backed vulture, and the sacred ibis held in high esteem by the ancient Egyptians, according to Katiya, the safari is a treasure trove with a perfect host.