Waking up before the sun? In summer time? Being forced to sit in a van all day under the threat of a hefty fine if you step outside of it? Yes, it was honestly absolutely fantastic.

We were picked up just outside of Johannesburg by two seasoned guides who drove us the several hours to Kruger National Park, all the while answering our every query with their awesome library of knowledge about South African wildlife, political affairs, history and economics.

By the time we arrived at the camp site, I had seen my first wild zebra, hyaena, gazelle, wildebeest and hippo. I presume we would have seen more were it not getting dark. The guides then cooked us a dinner of their own choosing (which turned out to be quite tasty), and we enjoyed the most star-covered sky I had ever seen. It didn’t hurt that there happened to be a total lunar eclipse that night, which didn’t happen until about 1 AM or so.

This was unfortunate because we were up and going at 4:15, just before the sun, to hit the roads before everyone else did, and to have our best shot at a glimpse of an elephant. And elephant-watch we did, to be certain. We wildlife-gazed throughout the day, and star-gazed at night. The second night, too tired to set up tents, we slept under the stars, a huge female hyaena lying down right next to us (separated by a 10-foot fence), waiting for our dinner scraps. It was something surreal to me, to say the least.

To be certain, there are more expensive safaris offered which put you up in a nice lodge or hotel and don’t wake you up pre-crack of dawn, but this was the full experience. And I saved a bundle of money.