It’s a rude 4.30am start every day of the Safari, bleary-eyed and tussle-haired, dressed and ready for a sharp 5am start beside the Land Cruiser. Impossibly cheery Brenden and Daly eager to get out into the bush for another morning’s unexpected encounter, so whatever the weather, we’re ready.

We set off just as the sun hits the horizon, a burning ball rising above the bush veld with the distant Drakensberg Mountains silhouetted against the glow. Much animal activity is nocturnal but at first light few animals seem awake, too cool and perhaps still too dangerous to be seen in the light, but off we chug – roaming and switching over the dirt tracks looking for signs of recent movement. Daly often puts his arm out to slow down, seeing recent Leopard, Hyena and even Lion tracks, freshly printed. He points in the direction the animal has headed, Brenden responding with a lurch, an intuitive knowhow. The rangers are in constant communication with each other across Thorny Bush, greeting each other over the two-way radio in the dawn half-light and reporting the whereabouts of particular animals. To prevent crowding around sensitive sightings like Leopards, Rhinos and Hippos, the rangers use radio shorthand, local languages and coded landmark names so that we, the hapless tourists, don’t know what’s happening, and the surprise is exactly that. These specially modified 4×4 Land Cruisers tackle any terrain with ease, so we roam across Thorny Bush without a care in the world – deep rocky passes, thick Acacia scrub, dry sandy river beds, open grassy veld. There’s nowhere this vehicle can’t go – even in sudden reverse.

We return to camp around 7.30-8am with most of the day to ourselves. The hide awaits! We head off again between 3.30 and 4pm, same routine but different areas of Thorny Bush to roam, Brenden and Daly bristling with recent reports, so often we find ourselves zooming across bushveld short-cuts to arrive at an amazing animal encounter – a pride of Lions snoozing in the shade, cubs mischievously playing amongst themselves; another group of male Lions found restless beside a dusty track… It’s an exhilarating experience. Dusk brings new animals to the fore, Chameleons found in the tracker’s spotlight; a marauding Hyena on an evening hunt; a lone Leopard silently stalking his patch and a pack of agitated Painted Wolves jittery for the night ahead.

We returned to camp buzzy with what we’d seen and experienced. Something we’ll never forget.