After a full day of roads so bumpy that I had become airborne more times than I could count (also known as an ‘African Massage’) we finally had arrived at the great Serengeti.

For those who haven’t heard of the Serengeti (which is completely unacceptable and you definitely should google it right now), imagine The Lion King – on steroids. Because everywhere you look, lions lay, elephants march, giraffes awkwardly run… Sometimes all in the one frame on your camera.

The Serengeti National Park, meaning “endless plains” in the Maasai language, is undoubtedly one of the world’s most celebrated wilderness areas and is an ongoing source of inspiration to writers, filmmakers and photographers.

I will never forget my first encounter with The Serengeti National Park. As we passed through those tall gates and waved goodbye to the Masai people (who are not allowed to live inside the park), I knew I was in for a treat. And it didn’t take long to unwrap the great eye candy that is the Serengeti (and I am not talking about Channing Tatum style eye-candy because that would be beastiality and that is wrong).

First, there were cheetahs. Yep, cheetahs. A family of four. We were 30 minutes in and my breath was already taken, (I have no idea how I survived the next three days because the sheer amount of magnificent sights almost suffocated me).

The spotted family didn’t seem to concerned about the eyes on their back as they watched the gazelles meander around nearby. We crossed our fingers that it was dinner time but our newfound friends didn’t seem too energetic. They laid down and we moved on.

But what was next was incredible. With my bare eyes I admired my first African elephants.

Elephants. This is what I had come to Africa for. The worlds largest mammal manage to display grace and beauty even with such an awkwardly colossal body. We watched the family of thee eat, search and, of course, poo. Because when an elephants gotta go, an elephants gotta go. Given that they consume an almighty 300kg of food a day, it is actually a pretty common sight…

We somehow managed to drag ourselves away from the incredible creatures and kept our eyes peeled on the long brown grass around us. Because there is one member of the big five that you could easily miss in that grass.

Although I have been told that I have 20/20 vision, the Serengeti was the ultimate test. And I don’t think I would have seen that mane if someone hadn’t pointed it out to me…

Forget every big cat you have ever seen in the zoo because no cat behind bars beats the moment when you admire a wild African lion for the first time. Nothing at all.

A male lion is a king. There is no doubt about it. The Lion King never lies.

But every king needs a queen…

I think I may be jinxed to have every African animal encounter tainted by natural urges…

Just like the gorillas and baboons that had graced me with their natural instincts previously, next up was mating lions…

But as feisty as these felines are, it really wasn’t much of a show… Apparently lions mate over the course of 5 days. So just imagine a standard timed mating ritual… Spread out over 5 days.

The lions wore themselves out and had a nap. And that my friends was my first encounter with wild lions.

On route to camp we passed more elephants, along with hyenas, wildebeest, zebras and gazelles… In fact in wasn’t just on route to camp…

Apparently ‘bush camping’ really does mean camping up close and personal with the locals…

Surrounding toilet blocks and our proposed tent pitching area was the opening scene from The Lion King. We were in for a fun night.