We spend some amazing months in Kenya a few years ago, and one of the incredible things about that time was the safaris we did. We did safaris in Land Rovers, in jeeps, in boats and on foot. One of the life-changing aspects about these adventures is that they often go near places where amazing animals spend time, turn off the vehicle’s engine and just sit there. You get to watch animals just being themselves.

Early one morning, we got pretty close to some young cheetahs, and watched them lounge, play, run, jump into trees and just basically be cats — at unbelievable speeds. We saw the carcasses of large gazelles high up in trees, where the cheetahs somehow drag them.

Like all cats, cheetahs are killing machines. But they don’t attack humans in the wild. In fact there has never been a reported case of a human being killed by a cheetah. And the reason is interesting. While animals like lions and hyenas evolved to take down big, strong animals that can fight back, the cheetah can only kill animals whose only real defense is their speed — gazelles and other swift-moving deer. So cheetahs leave the large mammals — including people — to the lions, and specialize in chasing down ultra-fast runners.

It’s one thing to hear about all this. It’s transformative to see it with your own eyes. When the pandemic is over, we think you should definitely put an African safari on your bucket list.