It has always been my belief that no matter what business you are in, you need to offer superior service to your clients and if you can do something different or innovative, then all the better. When I was in the safari business in South Africa, I was the first to introduce night vision quests over and above my normal sightseeing expeditions, which were in open vehicles and on foot.
The reason for night vision was because in the Greater Kruger National Park you had to turn off spotlights at night just before a carnivore launched an attack on its prey. This is because the prey would be blinded by the powerful light but not so much the leopard or lions launching the attack. Lions, like most nocturnal mammals, have what is known as the tapetum lucidum inside their eyes. Basically, it is a reflective layer of cells behind the retina and it acts as a mirror.
My tourists obviously wanted ‘bang for their buck’, so when the lights went out we witnessed the attack, like a pride of lions jumping on a large antelope or buffalo. Once we saw a buffalo collide with a large tree while fleeing a pride of lions with the rest of the herd. The lions were on the buff in a second and it was all over.
On a trip to the
