I had a marvellous encounter with a leopard in the Kruger National Park some years ago. My husband and I were driving late one afternoon along a fairly remote road. He was an avid birdwatcher and I was designated the "leopard looker" so we were both concentrating pretty hard on our surroundings and, of course, driving very slowly.

Just as we were going over a "donga" (South African expression for a dip in the road going over a normally dry river bed), he spots an owl high in a tree. We stop and of course he's got the owl in the binoculars and I start looking for the leopard. I focused on the river bed (which, together with big trees, is one of my favourite leopard spotting places) and couldn't believe what I saw - what distinctly looked like leopard spots moving through the bush!

We then drove slowly out of the donga and parked a few metres up the road. We were amply rewarded by the sight of a magnificent leopard coming through the bush to sit at the side of the road, not more than 20 metres away. BUT - this was no ordinary leopard. He (or she) had obviously climbed into a Porcupine, as he had many many quills sticking out of his face. They looked like huge (and very painfull) whiskers. He just sat and we just looked. It was quite incredible.

I had this really strong desire to get out of the car and go and gently remove the quills for him, and put him out of his agony. However after my husband locked me in the car and issued dire warnings about the consequences of this (like instant death?!) I resisted.

One of the most amazing things about this experience is that it was exclusive to us - there was not another single car on this road. A viewing like this on a busy road would have attracted at least 10 other cars - and this show was all ours!

Unfortunately I have no photos of this epic event - I took plenty but none of them came out. I was using my father-in-law's old camera and had obviously done something wrong, so the whole film came out blank. I was not very popular! However this experience and that leopard are engraved on my memory forever. And I suppose that's what life's greatest experiences are all about.