Mountain zebra national park - South Africa

“Having arrived fairly late at the Park we packed up and headed out to explore the Kranskop Loop, taking us deeper into this magnificent section of the park so we could hang on to its magic for a couple more hours. We wound our way up into the remaining rain clouds and watched the beauty of the park unfold below us. The higher we climbed the greater our reluctance to return to civilisation but the promise of cheetah tracking lured us away from our mountains and down to Main Camp to meet up with the group. The well marked and graded roads make driving around a pleasure and an abundance of game, birds and views certainly add to the experience. Feeling like intrepid explorers we bumped and jostled our way along back roads and into an adjacent valley following the muffled beeps of the ranger’s radio tracking equipment. Finding her was tricky but trekking on foot in any of our National Parks, is a treat never to be passed up on, especially when you can come within spitting distance of a magnificent cheetah in her natural environment. Once again time stood still as we quietly watched her panting in her shady spot, the sweltering heat of our hike and the maze of golden orb spider webs long forgotten.”

“On our arrival we discovered an incredible sighting, a male lion, just outside the main rest camp, feasting on buffalo carcass. Here he had been for 3 days already and stayed until the day we left. This is a rare treat. We would pop in with every drive and check up on his progress, from about 5m away. Our first night we decided to go on a sunset drive, a great opportunity to see whats happening and where in the park for the remaining days. It is one of our favorite sunset and night drive options in any park in South Africa. We have had incredible and rare sightings each time. On this drive we watched a aardwolf run across the road at high speed and up a hill. How Jason managed to capture a photo astounds me as I could barely get a glimpse in a very "slow motioned" video :) I am reminded of his crazy quick reflexes from his days as a goalkeeper.”