Expect generous game sightings at Botwana's Mashatu Game Reserve

Some time in the recent past a jet-black stallion named Zulu fled the cloistered wilderness of his Limpopo farm.

Presumably a very melodic set of neighs were exchanged between him and his herd the night before when he explained, like many a Disney character before him, that he needed to find himself in the wide dangerous world.

Four years later he would be found, strutting his stuff as the Alpha male in a dazzle of zebra at Mashatu Game Reserve in Botswana and, having recently visited the reserve, it's easy to understand why he settled there.

Situated across the Pontdrift border, Mashatu is a blend of the foreign and familiar. Like many in South Africa, it is inhabited by elephants, lions, cheetahs, zebra and The Lion King cast.

Unlike South Africa, at least in my experience, the game sightings are almost obscenely plentiful. Often the problem with game drives is that you end up jiggling like jelly for four hours only to spot a partially hidden leopard surrounded by a paparazzi of tourists.

Driving into Mashatu from the border, we came across nine unperturbed cheetahs, an adolescent pride of lion and all manner of feathered beast.

The following day was one to tingle the spine.

Splitting into three groups, members of the Mashatu clan chose between a walking or cycling safari or a game drive. In each case, people returned to the main camp with stories to tell.

Some were closely surrounded by a cackle of hyena. Others were mobbed, peacefully, by a herd of elephants and others managed to cycle what seemed to be the entirety of the reserve while curiously watched by animal onlookers.

One imagines Zulu settled in Mashatu for that familiar feeling. He was close enough to home to still feel comfortable in his surroundings yet far enough for the lady zebras to view him as that charming foreigner.

For humans, Mashatu has a similar vibe, a kind of ramped up version of many of the luxury game lodges you have at home.

• For more information, visit mashatu.com. The story of Zulu titled 'Running Wild' by David Bristow is available at Exclusive Books countrywide.

• This article was originally published in The Times