“I can see some eyes," our guide announces while moving the bright white spotlight in the distance, trying to confirm her sighting to the driver. It's pitch black, and we've been on the night game drive for an hour, hoping to catch sight of nocturnal animals in Akagera National Park, Central Africa’s largest protected wetland and home to the Big Five.
Within a few minutes, we're confronted by a lion staring right at us, behind whom is a pride of lionesses and cubs. Even from a few meters, his gaze is piercing and authoritative like our presence doesn't bother him much. He stays put while others start to shuffle, some moving towards him, others descending off the narrow road onto a lower plain. “There is a lot of them!" the excited guide whispers as we begin to count from the sunroof of our safari vehicle. “One, two, three... sixteen, but there could be more," she says. It's hard to know in the dark.
