science

Safari

Safari is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Safari rather than just read about it. In short: A safari (; from Swahili safari 'journey' originally from Arabic safar 'to journey') is an overland journey to observe or hunt wild animals, especially in East Africa. The so-called "Big Five" game animals of Africa – lion, leopard, rhinoceros, elephant, and Cape buffalo – particularly form an important part of the safari market, both for wildlife viewing and big-game hunting.

Key takeaways

Safari belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Safari to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Safari from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

A safari (; from Swahili safari 'journey' originally from Arabic safar 'to journey') is an overland journey to observe or hunt wild animals, especially in East Africa. The so-called "Big Five" game animals of Africa – lion, leopard, rhinoceros, elephant, and Cape buffalo – particularly form an important part of the safari market, both for wildlife viewing and big-game hunting.

Etymology The Swahili word safari means "journey", originally from the Arabic noun سفر, safar, meaning "journey", "travel", "trip", or "tour"; the verb for "to travel" in Swahili is kusafiri. These words are used for any type of journey, e.g., by bus from Nairobi to Mombasa or by ferry from Dar es Salaam to Unguja. Safari entered the English language at the end of the 1850s thanks to explorer Richard Francis Burton. The Regimental March of the King's African Rifles was "Funga Safari", literally 'set out on a journey', or, in other words, pack up equipment ready for travel.

Funga safari, funga safari. Funga safari, funga safari. Amri ya nani? Amri ya nani? Amri ya Bwana Kapteni, Amri ya KAR.

Which is, in English:

Set out on a journey, Set out on a journey. On whose orders? On whose orders? On the order of the boss captain, On the order of the KAR.

On Kenya's independence from the United Kingdom, "Funga Safari" was retained as the Regimental March of the Kenya Rifles, the successor to the KAR.

History The origins of safari can be traced back to the first arrivals of Europeans and Arabs in Africa, long before the colonization era. Academic and economic interest to Africa increased in Western society in the 19th century when technological advances and medicine (most notably the discovery of quinine as a remedy against malaria) allowed foreigners to safely travel deeper into the continent. These early expeditions established the concept of safari-style travel. While the goal of most visitors was geographical discovery, the search for minerals, and new routes of communication, other visitors were primarily aimed at hunting animals, particularly elephants for their tusks. In 1836, William Cornwallis Harris led an expedition to observe and record wildlife and landscapes. Harris established the safari style of journey, starting with a not-too-strenuous rising at first light, an energetic day of walking, an afternoon rest, and concluding with a formal dinner and telling stories in the evening over drinks and tobacco. The hunting aspect traditionally associated with the safari is said to have its origins in the early 17th century in the region of Évora, Alentejo, where villagers formed hunting parties to hunt wild boar and reclaim land for farming. The firm of Newland & Tarlton Ltd. (founded 1904) pioneered luxury tented safaris.

Literary genre Jules Verne's first novel Five Weeks in a Balloon published in 1863 and H. Rider Haggard's first novel King Solomon's Mines published in 1885, both describe journeys of English travellers on safari and were best sellers in their day. These two books gave rise to a genre of Safari adventure novels and films. Ernest Hemingway wrote several fiction and nonfiction pieces about African safaris. His short stories "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber" and "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" are set on African safaris and were written after Hemingway's own experience on safari. His books Green Hills of Africa and True at First Light are both set on African safaris.

Cinematic genre The safari provided countless hours of cinema entertainment in sound films from Trader Horn (1931) onwards. The safari was used in many adventure films such as the Tarzan, Jungle Jim, and Bomba the Jungle Boy film series up to The Naked Prey (1965) where Cornel Wilde, a white hunter, becomes game himself. The safari genre films were parodied in the Bob Hope comedies Road to Zanzibar and Call Me Bwana. A short 15-minute helicopter safari was shown in Africa Addio, where clients are armed, flown from their hotel, and landed in front of an unlucky and baffled elephant. Out of Africa has Karen Blixen and famous hunter Denys Finch Hatton travelling, with Denys refusing to abandon home comforts using fine china and crystal, and listening to Mozart recordings over the gramophone while on safari trip.

Fashion

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Safari

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Safari claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Safari before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Safari ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Safari

In research: Safari appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Safari in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Safari is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Adventure travel, Culture of Africa, Ecotourism, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Safari outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Safari in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Safari means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Safari out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Safari in simple terms?

Why does Safari matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Safari?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Safari.