The last drive was not the least. It was a beast.

The night before I asked Ranger Matt about the area in Londolozi to the north, across the Sand River where we had not traveled. He said none of the rangers had been in that area in weeks, “so let’s go!” For about 25 minutes I cursed my own suggestion. We saw nothing. No mosquitos. No dung beetles. No impala, buffalo, elephants. Nothing. We continue up an incline when Ranger Matt stopped. Blocking the road were four young adult lionesses. (Video and photo of this will be posted.) Then we saw animals at almost every turn: elephants, then zebras, then cape buffalo, then warthogs, then hyena, then a baby impala born the day before and already sprinting around the bush with a worried mother following its every move and then a Southern Ground Hornbull, a very rare sighting of a large predatory bird with a loud territorial call. Alas, it was time to leave for our flight to Cape Town. Ranger-in-training Trevor picked us up and drove us back to Camp Varty. As we crossed the Sand River, we spotted a crocodile lurking next to the path and across the water, to remind us of Florida, were several beautiful grey herons.

Our adventure on safari was over and our memory banks were full.