Because the herbivores are so numerous, they are relatively easy to spot as you make your way around a park. (The Doctor, with her keen eyesight and prior safari experience, was particularly good at this.)

Spotting the carnivores - who are far fewer in number, and who tend to keep out of sight when not on the prowl - is not nearly so easy.

As we hunted the hunters, we came to realize that no matter what park you're exploring, the safari guides are its central nervous system. When two vehicles pass each other on a road or trail, they almost always stop for a half-minute, so the guides can exchange information about what they've seen. Guides also speak with each other over their radios. In these ways, news of a sighting disseminates quickly through a park.

Though mere tourists, we quickly developed a system of our own. Listen for an eruption of voices speaking Swahili on the radio. How excited do they sound? How heavily does your guide step on the accelerator in response? As you bump along the rutted trail, scan the horizon until you see a gathering of vehicles. How many are there? When you're closer still, look at the tourists in those vehicles. Which way do their camera lenses point? Follow that line to your quarry.

This was how, on our first afternoon in Samburu, we found this cheetah (acinonyx jubatus):

The next morning, by exactly the same process, we discovered a young male African lion (panthera leo). We had now seen two of the Big Five.

As much as we enjoyed these sightings, The Doctor, The Woman and I longed to discover a predator of our own. I imagine George felt this desire even more acutely.

These feelings didn't last for long. That same day, on the afternoon drive, George observed a herd of giraffes who were, unusually, not observing us. Instead, they seemed to be looking off into the middle distance. After triangulating their gazes, George drove us to the apex, and there, on the riverbank, we saw it: a lion of our very own.

Among the fraternity of safari guides - and they are, in my limited experience, all men - I assume there's a code: If you see something, say something (no apologies to the Department of Homeland Security). This maximizes the number of sightings for everyone. But perhaps the code does not dictate how quickly you have to say what you see. On this afternoon, we enjoyed a few precious moments alone with our lion before George got on the radio to announce his find.

All too soon, we heard the rumble of approaching vehicles, so George fired up the Mystery Machine and we set off in search of new sights.