And it just gets better! After the rest of the crew left, we set off for the afternoon game drive with Michael. It was slow at first. We were looking for lions. We saw a lot of Cape buffalo and Impala, but little else. After driving for quite a long time, it was getting close to sunset. We pulled up on a sandbar next to the river for sundowners.

So we are sitting there drinking wine and eating cheese and crackers (our special order for our anniversary) when we hear a leopard call. Close by. Michael tells us we should get packed up and in the vehicle, which we did quickly, just as a huge male leopard walks out of the reeds along the bank straight toward us. He calmly walks along, right past us. I could have reached out my hand to pet him, he was that close to me. He goes on patrol, and we follow him for a very long time. We could hear the baboons calling out warnings to each other. It was so cool. He didn't stalk anything. He was just patrolling and marking his territory, but still very neat. A super healthy and strong animal.