Safari adventure: Our blogger Megan Pendred goes on the safari of a lifetime.

It was early morning in the South African savannah. The sun was rising high in the sapphire sky and the grassy plains stretched out in front, hugging the horizon for as far as the eye could see.

I was on safari in the Kruger National Park, one of the largest game reserves in all of Africa. There were seven of us in total– Goodman our guide, my friend Keary, two English guys, a lad from Meath and a Brazilian fella. None of us had very high expectations for the trip – it was only a two-day excursion after all. One of the guys said he’d be happy to see an animal. Suffice to say he was not disappointed.

One of the very first animals we came across was a leopard. It strolled nonchalantly along the side of the road as if it owned the place, which to be fair it probably did. We parked-up beside this fiercely beautiful creature and observed it as it paced through the long grass, placing one heavy paw in front of the other. Then it turned. I should mention at this point that the vehicle we were in was one of those open-style jeeps with nothing standing between you and the wild side except an elbow high swing door.

Fear didn’t really factor into the moment though, we were too much in awe to care. The leopard crossed the road directly in front of us and, for a split second, turned to look in our direction. His golden eyes glowed in his spotted head. Then the moment was gone and so was he. He loped off into the bush, swaying his tail behind him with the casualness of a house cat. We drove on, eager to see more.

The plains were literally saturated with wildlife. Everywhere you looked there was either a herd of elephants plodding along, or a tower of giraffes ambling away, or a pair of boisterous impalas head butting each other. At one point I saw a honey badger as we drove by. I very excitedly announced this to the rest of the group and we turned back for a better look. On closer inspection, however, it was actually a rock. Some zoologist I am!

Later on that evening we were brought to a private game reserve to watch the sunset, drink a few beers and reflect on the day. It was there that we came across some animals we could never have hoped to see, not even in our wildest dreams.

Over in the distance there was a large grey object. I didn’t dare say anything for fear of another honey-badger-moment so I kept my mouth shut. But as we got closer it became very clear that it wasn’t a rock we were looking at, but a rhino. And it wasn’t just any rhino either. It was one of the most critically endangered rhino species on this planet - the black rhino. And trotting alongside her was a little calf.

There is said to be only about 2,500 black rhinos left and unless they make a miraculous recovery they are ultimately doomed to extinction, perhaps even in our lifetime. We were watching what might have been the final few steps of a species that has walked this Earth for the past 50 million years. I felt both fortunate and forlorn.

Before we got a chance to pull over and watch the sun go down the Brazilian guy in the back spoke up. “Leopard puppet” he said calmly, as if he had spotted a crow, “I think I saw a leopard puppet”. We all turned around and asked him rather skeptically if he had meant to say “cub”. “Yes”, he chuckled heartily, “I meant to say cub”. So, with that, we did a very quick U-ey and went back to the spot where he’d seen it.

And sure enough there it was – a leopard cub, roughly a year old, pouncing through the grass. There was another one watching us from behind a pile of sticks. Then, just as the sun sank behind the far off hills we saw a third cub stretching in the shadows. It was amazing to sit there and watch them frolic about. Goodman assured us that it was extremely rare to see leopard cubs. It was the perfect ending to what had been a perfect day.

The following morning didn’t start off too badly either. After we drove through the first gate to the park, before we had actually entered Kruger, we saw a cheetah. It was without a doubt the most beautiful creature I’ve ever laid eyes on. She was in the grass when we saw her – sitting up straight, shoulders back – the perfect lady. She then decided to survey the land from the other side of the road so we got an unbelievable view of her bouncing across the tarmac.

That was when she really started to show off. She perched herself up on a rock, lengthening out her long back and stretching out her limbs. She regularly turned around to glance at us as if to say, “Are you getting this?” There are a mere 200 cheetahs in the nearly 20,000km2 that is Kruger National Park and one of them was giving us her own personal show. It doesn’t get much better than that! Except it does …

The day was spent observing more cool animals like warthogs, buffalo and a pride of lions as well as regaling and amazing other safari-goers with our miraculous encounters. Some seasoned veterans were shocked to hear that we had seen so many leopards in one day, never mind a cheetah the next morning. “That just doesn’t happen” they lamented. I must admit we felt pretty chuffed with ourselves!

But the safari wasn’t over yet. Just when we were making our way to the exit of the park we stopped to admire an unusual looking fig tree on the side of the road. We all looked at it, mildly interested, until we realized there was, in fact, a leopard (yes, another one!!) devouring its lunch in the tree. It noticed us and quickly began to climb down. It nimbly descended, flexing every muscle in its powerful body. It then curled up behind the tree and we watched it watching us.

We could not believe our eyes. I was speechless. To see one leopard in a lifetime is lucky. But to see so many in two days is unheard of. It’s the most our guide had seen in his 38 years of living in Africa. On that note we decided we had to head back to our camp. It had been a very special couple of days - words can’t really describe how special (but I’ve given it my best shot!) and I don’t think I can ever go on safari again. Nothing will ever compare.

The company I went with are called Selous and I would highly recommend them to anyone going on safari. I slept in a tent (which was actually more like a room with rubber walls than a tent) and was fed three delicious meals a day. Goodman, our guide and Martin, our chef were an absolute pair of legends. Although Mother Nature did have a big hand to play in my enjoyment over those two days, the trip wouldn't have been the same without Goodman and Martin.