Almost every creature in its natural environment knocks me out, whether it is a leopard in Tanzania or a Southern leopard frog at home in Mississippi. The leopard is one of my favorite animals — so bad (one of the few predators who kills more than they can eat) and lazy (lolling around among the branches all day) and totally beautiful. But when you see them in those branches, as I did during two glorious trips to Tanzania and Kenya, what is most striking to me is how much less "exotic" they look when they are where they are supposed to be — all those dazzling golds and tangerines seem to fade away and they are literally one with the tree bark. I don’t think I’m ever any happier than I am in  Africa.

On my first trip, my friend McGee and I spent all our time roaming around in open Jeeps and drinking Tusker beer and taking in all these amazing sights, and then we realized that was pretty much how we’d spent our youth, except the exotica we were looking at from my Mustang convertible were mostly horses and cows and rattlesnakes, not to mention the ubiquitous possums and armadillos.