This young male lion, one of southern Africa’s Big 5 animals, gave us a big yawn for the camera. Photo by Gene Korte.

Lions, leopards, elephants, cape buffaloes and rhinos are the Big Five in this part of the world, but reports suggest one can safari for days here and not see all of them. We got lucky and spotted a young elephant playing in the mud nine minutes into our first game drive. Fate aside, the real credit goes to Singita Game Reserve guides for knowing where to look.

Over five days we viewed wildly splashing mating hippos (a first for a fellow traveler who was a veteran of more than 400 game drives), shy kangaroos, running zebras, even a few reptiles like the 8-foot crocodile and her baby catching fish in a water spillway. And every day complex termite nests as tall as people dotted the road sides. …