Safari

There is nothing quite like the excitement of waking before dawn and heading out in a jeep or boat, knowing that you could see something special today.

The adrenaline keeps you warm as you quietly muse over what you hope the day will hold: lions hunting their prey on the Masai Mara, a glimpse of a jaguar through the thickness of the Amazon, a family of mountain gorillas so close you’ll feel your heart beating through your chest, an orangutan casually swinging through the Borneon canopy right above you, the collective exhale of the group as a tarantula scurries back into its hole (was no one breathing that whole time?).

Even those who may not have considered themselves naturalists when they started researching a safari holiday will suddenly be able to list off species of birds and insects they never knew existed. Checklists will be taken and studied in notebooks (or Notes), and thousands of photos will need sorting once home.

And then it’s time to plan another. Once is never enough. Where next?