Good things come to those who wait. At least, that’s what we’re hoping to prove as we wave goodbye to the last Land Rover, leaving ours the only one sitting idle in the scrubby South African bush.

The sun has long gone down and the late-winterchill has forced us under blankets. Everyone else is back at the lodge eating dinner. But our ranger, Jamiel Malherbe, does not want to leave just yet – and neither do we. We’re in the company of two leopards and, any minute now, surely, they are due to mate.