If there is one park to go to in Africa, this is the one.  Absent is the intense commercialization of the Serengeti, instead replaced with respectful and knowledgeable guides (some of the best trained in Africa), stunning landscapes, and much fewer people.  The park hosts a wide variety of animals – leopards and some substantial prides of lions along with many unique birds and an incredible hippo population.

Even lions need a good cuddle sometimes!

Similar to the Serengeti, we were able to camp right inside the park.  However, unlike the Serengeti where we simply heard some animals distant, the campsites are regularly visited by hippos and elephants and anybody who is curious can just watch from inside their tent as they go about their business at incredibly close distances.  In fact, when you arrive, you are given a rigorous safety briefing as the animals truly are not controlled or restricted in any way and many of our group were surprised when coming out of the bathroom, you were facing a huge elephant!

The most incredible single thing in this park are the beautiful leopards though, we saw 4 in our 2 game drives, which is certainly a generous dose of luck as our second truck only saw 1, but we’ll take it!