The wildlife encounters here have been at times heart-stopping. Deep in the Okavango Delta, we paddled on a dugout canoe to within yards of a pod of hippos. These grumpy and territorial beasts are the biggest animal killers of man in Africa (mosquitoes notwithstanding) and on a frequent basis take exception to nosey tourist canoes, biting them in half with often fatal results! The two males in the group we saw were busy fighting for dominance, so we luckily escaped unscathed.

Our guide must have had some kind of death-wish as he immediately followed up this tour-de-force with a walking safari, running straight into a cross bull elephant (initiating a controlled but very swift retreat!), and even racing after a distant pride of hunting lions (who would no doubt have been only too delighted to discover that WE had "caught" THEM...). As we searched for sticks to defend ourselves in case of an attack, we gained a strong sense of how feeble our human physiques are compared to the great beasts of Africa.

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