Safari over

Our last drive this morning before saying farewell to Sabi Sands. Having been out five times already and seeing so many amazing things I feared I might feel I'd done enough but, instead, I couldn't wait to get back in the saddle. When I say saddle, you know what I mean and the number of horses under us was impressive. This baby took us on some hairy rides, 

none more so than this morning's. Heather almost went overboard at one point! Tracker Ronald at the front and our ranger Brogan at the wheel were a star turn and our Swiss and German safari companions for the last three days were just terrific. What great people we've met on our travels.

And talking of meeting, this magnificant herd of elephants was our first sighting of the day and they were just unbelievable.

One huge beast was within touching distance of me, a wee one took us on, facing the jeep and trumpeting before backing off to its mum, another just lay in the road for a nap. It was as if they were there to perform just for us. Even the ranger laughed aloud at the antics and I'd have happily turned back and called it a day after such a joyous start.

But we hurtled on quite some distance, the ranger keeping his cards close to his chest. There's method in this: first it builds up a feeling of anticipation and avoids disappointment if the planned target has moved on.

This time it hadn't and we tracked this beautiful leopard for some minutes.

This little pussy cat actually sniffed our tracker's foot before moving on. Doesn't look like he would kill you in an instant if you got down from the jeep does he?

And that, if anyone is reading this, is the end of the most extraordinary three days we've ever had. This romantic, exotic dream of being on safari has been realised and it exceeded all our expectations. We saw the Big Five, and a whole lot more, and nearly all our sightings were close up and personal. 

I asked the ranger what's the best thing he's EVER seen and he said the wild dog kills on our first morning: he said that was such a rare thing to actually witness. And we were there. It has been a real privilege to see these simply beautiful animals in their territory, on their terms. No pictures or words can quite convey what it feels like to be there and see them for real and this has to rank as one of the very best experiences of our trips so far.

I may blog again but it will probably be to say, "We sat on the beach, ate, sat on the beach, ate, sat on the beach...." You get the idea!