The Big Five are lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo and rhino. The name comes from hunting, not from tourism: these were the five animals considered most dangerous to pursue on foot. It stuck as a checklist, and it is still the shorthand most people use when they mean a proper game reserve.

The stays here are on reserves where hosts have recorded all five. That is a statement about what lives on the land, not a promise about your three nights. Leopard in particular is nocturnal, solitary and genuinely hard to find; plenty of people leave without one, including people who paid a great deal.

Where Spekboom differs from a booking site is what happens behind the sighting. Rhino on these reserves are protected at real cost, and a share of the commission on every booking goes to the conservation cause attached to the stay. Each listing names its own.