But in August he moved to London, where he met Jason Peters, and his life changed dramatically. In that meeting he found both love and — somewhat unwittingly — one of the world’s trendiest holiday destinations.

Because Jason, who incidentally is a fundraiser with the WorldWide Fund for Nature (WWF), had won a trip to South Africa by entering a competition on National Geographic TV.

This wasn’t just any trip. It was relatively high adventure, through beautiful parts of the country and sponsored by South African Tourism (SAT), in association with the channel.

The winner of the competition was the person who best described why he or she should be South Africa’s adventure-travel ambassador. But there was a catch. Novak and Jason were to be accompanied by media; a NatGeo television crew, a photographer shooting for a National Geographic exhibition in London, and myself, a photojournalist specialising in the region.

It would prove to be an interesting trip. Having driven, walked and ridden most of the country, I was particularly keen to see the destinations that SAT had chosen for this adventure, not least because NatGeo would be airing a piece on the trip, and the country deserves to have its best side shown. The start was good, as our first stop was a classic.

Tracking Black Rhino

Part one of Jason’s prize was an unforgettable safari experience. One of the commercial pioneers of getting poor, rural communities involved in conservation — exposing them to the benefits of ecotourism — is Phinda Private Game Reserve in northern KZN. It has become one of the classic southern African wildlife establishments.

In the 17 years since its inception in 1992, schools and clinics have been built in the neighbouring communities with proceeds from the tourist numbers visiting the reserve. And youngsters have found careers in conservation.

Being socially minded, and having a yen for wildlife, Jason loved Phinda: “This was definitely the highlight of the trip”, he told me at the end of the first week, “especially seeing the black rhino and leopard”.

Novak had meanwhile remained pretty quiet. With a serious eye for design and style — and particularly fond of his shades (sunglasses) — he rarely vocalised appreciation. But when he did utter, it betrayed the excitement of a first-time visitor to Africa.

“Hey, look at that…what is that?” he would say, his eyes tracking a baby warthog scuttling-tail-up after its mother. It’s moments like these that remind me of the very special nature of the South African bush.

For me Phinda served up two seriously ‘wow’ moments. The first was a cheetah family enjoying their customary afternoon nap, stretching and preening under an umbrella thorn acacia tree. Nothing too special you might say, but there can’t be more than 400 cheetah in the wild in South Africa, and I can’t remember when I last saw one.

The second takes some beating. After two hours spent looking for black rhino tracks — a serious skill — our specialist tracker Zama found fresh spoor and took us on a bushwalk.

First we heard the heavy breathing in the thick bush (their favoured hideout). A hand signal brought us to a dramatic, sudden stop. Then we were given the signal to continue. Quietly, not breaking a twig. And then it unfolded.

A rustle, a few thundering steps and a snort, and we were told to move out… quickly. I remember polite but hurried scrambling, regardless of thorns. So we were officially scared off by a black rhino, a few of us claiming to have seen the hulking shadow.

Angus Begg is the owner of the recently-established African Storybook Media. He is a prolific photo-journalist and TV producer, counting CNN Traveller amongst his clients.

Read more:
Page 2: Surfing J-Bay and Bungy-jumping
Page 3: Ostriches, caves and walking with elephants
Page 4: Adventures in Knysna and Cape Town

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