Thrilling.

It's not a word I use often, but it's perfect for today's finale. First there was walking to within 30 metres of a black rhino - that would be the more aggressive of the two varieties. Then there was the standing in the open back of a pickup, in a pool of blood from a freshly-shot impala, watching two cheetahs just 10m away crunching on another as we watched from inside their enclosure.

Then, driving away, we stopped to inspect a pride of five lions as they watched us equally closely - still in the back of the pickup, still with the blood and the impala.

And finally, on tonight's game drive here at &Beyond's Phinda, there were four hungry cheetah, a mother and three male cubs, looking gaunt. We were sad, but as we followed them, bouncing off-road in the Land Cruiser, they found a herd of nyala (small antelope) and as we watched, they ran down a young one, the mother hampered by her useless sons, and finally killed it and filled their stomachs. Hooray! But not so good for the nyala, of course...