It’s not every day you lock eyes with an apex predator. Safari is a generally safe activity, you know — but what’s to stop this big cat from following it’s primal instincts? The situation is defused by the lion unleashing a big yawn and falling back to the ground, apparently unfazed by our open top jeep and its slack-jawed occupants.

Such scenes are the norm out here on a private slice of the South African wilderness near Kruger National Park. It’s late in the afternoon and we’re on our second game drive of the day, having just spent the better part of an hour following a pride of lions across dusty roads and through thick brush. The clicking of camera shutters subsides and we sit silently for a moment, in awe of all the good things nature has given us. Our guide looks back and sticks his thumb up, silently asking if we’re ready to move on. His radio is crackling with reports of an elephant sighting, an animal our group hasn’t yet come across. We peel off in search of the herd.