“There’s a lone gazelle up ahead,” said Patrick, our guide through the Maasai Mara National Park.

We were watching a pregnant cheetah and she crouched down to lay in a bush, spotting the lone Thomson’s gazelle a few hundred metres from her.

The wind was in her favour but the gazelle caught sight of her and high-tailed it out of the area. The cheetah rose and moved away – not her day.

I was visiting the Mara in rainy season and the 1,500km² area was a lush, Welsh green. Wildebeest grazed alongside Bushnell zebra on the vast plains with Thomson’s and Grant’s gazelles all around as well as impala and giraffe.

Herds of hartebeest and small groups of topi shared long stretches of open plains with herds of buffalo and two lions could be seen far-off in the distance.

We continued on to the Mara River where small pods of hippos lay in the cooling waters while a Nile crocodile basked on the muddy bank. The small pride of lions we came across completely ignored us as did the elephants while the baboons cared only about where to find food.

Warthogs and jackals scattered as soon as our van was heard and a large male lion lay sulking in the bushes, a fresh cut under his right eye.

The following morning only myself and another guest ventured out with Patrick for a sunrise safari. We spotted the same pregnant cheetah as she lay in the grass and later we came across a majestic young male lion, a beauty of a beast, lying perched on a small hill, looking as though he sat on a throne.

All in all, an amazing African experience.

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