Just after dark, our Land Rover travels a narrow road in the 2,235,400-acre South Luangwa National Park in Zambia. The searchlight held by Joseph, our spotter, falls onto wide-mouthed, red bottomed, hippos feeding on grass. These behemoths casually referred to as lawn mowers, don't seem bothered by it. A spotted hyena, with its characteristic sloped walk, is following a group of impala, the lithe antelope that are a favorite food of predators. Will Africa's second largest carnivore, after the lion, be successful tonight?

The searchlight slants down on a genuine rock star of the bush, the rock python. It is Africa's largest snake growing up to 15 feet. One of the local guides gets out of the Rover for a closer look. The python is light brown on top and buffy on the sides and bottom. The snake moves into a tight U-turn, its body pressed together with the head next to the tail. Its tongue flicks and small black eyes look around.

An elegant large-spotted genet appears in the spotlight as the animal sits on a branch. This mammal has a small, pointed head, leopard-like spots on its long, narrow body, and a ringed raccoon-like tail. Green glow-in-the-dark eyes give this long creature a surreal look.

The Rover's engine is grinding as we reach the top of a ridge. Below in a flat area that floods, but is now dry, the spotlight bathes a resting pride of lions. My heart skips a beat. The tawny headed male sits up and continuously yawns. I'm fascinated by the color and the supple texture of the lionesses' hides but at the same time I am thinking, "What if they get mad at us?" But they don't seem to care. My heartbeat resumes.

On open grassland, a leopard walks ahead of us and to the left. Its spots appear bold and its yellow whiskers stick out. Soon it gets flat on the ground, head down and shoulders up in the "leopard crawl." Its prey: a male impala is 30 yards away. The solitary stealthy stalker needs to get within 5 to 10 yards to be within striking distance. We watch in total silence. Peter, our local guide, douses the spotlight. Why? The light makes it possible for the leopard to see its prey but not for the impala to see the leopard. It's an unfair advantage. The big predator cats, lion, leopard and cheetah have eyesight as good as ours in daylight. However, in the dark, theirs is many times more accurate. Another vehicle pulls up next to us. Shortly, Peter turns on our spotlight and the leopard is no longer in its crawl but is merely sitting. The other vehicle moved too close. The leopard soon walks slowly away. No meal here.

The next night Joseph is again looking for eyes and listening for sounds as the Rover moves along a narrow dusty road. With no warning the spotlight is on a tuskless female elephant that is secreting. Her trunk is wrapped around some tree branches. I hear the rustle of leaves and branches only as we pass. Later Joseph tells me that he heard her before he saw her above the noise made by the Rover. Impressive.

We come upon two female lions with their three cubs, which are 4 months old. They are from the pride we saw the night before. One of the lionesses is heading in the direction of a group of impala, whose eyes are glowing in the night. Then there's the sound of baboons, like those of dogs. Eerie. The lioness soon comes back to her cubs. They rub and touch; it's love in the bush.

Some days before in the Moremi Wildlife Reserve, in Botswana, we were going back to camp at twilight when the silhouette of a cheetah was spotted moving in the bush alongside the road. Rob, one of our guides, says that both a hyena and a jackal are following it, hopping onto the dirt and sitting on the door while driving, takes off after the cheetah telling us to hold on as we might hit a hole. Without a spotlight we are heading straight toward the cheetah, which goes around a mound that we're fast approaching. If the cheetah is there it will be on my side of the Rover and I'm concerned that it will be snarling. We go round the mound seeing only empty twilight. Nearby, however, are the bulky hyena and the fox-like shape of the jackal.

As Rob goes through a small section in the scrub that leads to open field there's a loud scraping of branches on metal. My wife screams. We have hit a thorn bush. She has a small superficial cut on her hand and a tiny thorn, which is later removed. The field is empty. Stealth and 70-mile an hour speed were on the cat's side. When we see the light from our large campfire a few minutes later I'm surprised that the encounter has taken place about a half a kilometer away.

The African night may have a thousand eyes but that night after dinner, in my mind's eye, I could see only those of the cheetah. Stepping slowly through the bush, its body is murky but its eyes are clear and yellow as they move through the night. That night we slept safely and soundly in our roomy tent under a dark sky that had the brightest stars I've ever seen. Before we went to Africa a few people said that it was the trip of a lifetime. Although I said nothing, inwardly I scoffed at those words. However, it was just that. When we got home and people asked us about the trip, my wife said it was the most exciting thing we've ever done. It was.