The scent of wild mint hangs in the air as we pass dusky ravines where baboons swing from the fig trees, swerving past brilliant white bones stripped of flesh by vultures.

BBC: East Africa��s best kept secret

At the southernmost point of the Cape Peninsula, the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve is home to Chacma baboons, ponderous, large antelopes called elands, ostriches, rare tortoises, bonteboks and zebras.

BBC: Kid-friendly Cape Town

On day three, a troop of baboons go about their daily grooming and tick-picking tasks with nonchalance, ignoring both the camera-toting hikers and the dollops of yellow foam blowing off the angry sea.

WSJ: Trekking in Otter Space

Once inside the southern Tanzania park, the highway cannot be seen or heard, but it makes Mikumi one of the most accessible places in Tanzania to see lions, buffalo, hippopotamus, gazelles, elands, warthogs and yellow baboons (not to mention more than 400 species of birds).

BBC: Tanzania��s alternative to the Serengeti