Lying in bed at first light the soft glug, glug of the “bottle bird” is the first reminder that you have stepped into a different world. You know you have woken up in Africa when the coucal reminds you it is time to get up.   

As the landrover follows its nose out of camp you can often already hear the sound of a Hornbill as they sweep low overhead from three to tree with the first rays of the sun.  

The smell of grass all around you and the crisp morning air as you stop for a quick coffee before following hyena tracks plotting down the dirt road, these are all familiar emotions and memories to the African adventurer.

The days always offer surprises. Large gangs of buffalo suspiciously leer at you from the shade of towering trees. You may be planning a slow morning watching a bask of crocodiles sunbathing just to drive into a procession of elephant crossing the river. Whatever the day offered it is always nostalgic to drive into camp and to flop down next to the fire as the last rays touch the river while hippo playfully grunt and snort.

After dinner as the night jar remind you it’s time for bed there is often the familiar spine-tingling whoop of the spotted hyena in the distance as reminder that the bush never sleeps, and suddenly the words of Isak Dinesen ring true in remembrance “You know you are truly alive when you’re living among lions.”  Out of Africa