Lessons from plants and poop during bush walks

SAY the word "safari", and it's game drives that immediately come to mind: jouncing in a jeep through African plains, gawking at the stretch of unending wilderness, marvelling at the majesty of the Big Five (lions, leopards, rhinoceroses, elephants and buffaloes).

But having just returned from my first safari - my husband and I visited South Africa's Sabi Sands region - I'd wager that the real magic is not in the game drives, but in the bush walks. For these, we left the security of our land rover and explored the savannah on foot, with nothing but our trusty local ranger and his rifle.

While the under-appreciative dismiss bush walks as mere plant and poop spectacles - for avoiding excrement is a futile task in the wild - they are missing the point. The truth is, there is no fauna without flora; animals only form half of the story.