Three nights in the Sabi Sand, on the western edge of Kruger. A private villa, and a guide who read the bush like a second language. Every safari after this one got measured against it.
Then three nights in Cape Town – the markets, a hike above the city, a colony of penguins on the coast, and a guide who showed us the version of the city worth seeing.
From there Botswana, and the Selinda Reserve at the edge of the Okavango. A different register entirely from South Africa: tents instead of a villa, and a dinner outdoors that turned into a scramble indoors once the bugs found the table. The game viewing carried this leg – cheetah, leopard, lion, a wild dog hunt, and two prides meeting up with all their cubs in tow.
Mozambique closed it out, on Benguerra Island in the Bazaruto Archipelago. Beaches, warm water, and not much else on the agenda after a trip that moved every few days.
