I have been fortunate to have been to various parts of Africa dozens of times and have been on numerous game drives. Not so for my bride...
Visiting Africa had been on her bucket list since a child...so, for her 70th birthday present she got a trip to Africa...and had the time of her life.
We had a grand safari, doing a total of 8 game drives in 4 different countries, two of which were by boat. In less than a week we saw all of the Big Five: Lion, Leopard, Elephant, Rhino & Cape Buffalo, as well as dozens of other species.
In all my years of doing safaris I had only seen a leopard twice...and both times were distant and fleeting, at best. On this trip we found a leopard "slowing strolling across a beach..." We were within 40 yards and watched him for almost 5 minutes. Just too powerful for words...
We watched a pride of lions attacking and being repulsed by a herd of Cape Buffalo...got to within 15 yards of a large male lion devouring a freshly killed Impala...saw a baby Elephant less than 12 hours old...saw dozens and dozens of Hippos and Elephants, etc, etc.
We were in South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana, finishing up in South Africa by visiting the Cape of Good Hope and seeing hundreds of penguins and watching Right Whales.
And although I didn't go to hunt...I have to admit that I saw some of the largest and most perfect trophy racks on Kudus and Elands that I have ever seen. They were beyond magnificent.
The only difficulty is that my wife now says she is ready to go back...
I found out that she enjoyed the game drives as much as I did, which I will admit was a surprise to me.
I will post a few pic once I get them off my camera.