Don Pinnock.

I enjoyed the cat research conducted by Sharon George… Cats are having us on. Running circles around us. We protect them and at night they go out and kill, kill, kill. Then they come home, lick their paws and ask for warm milk.

You’ve had some wonderful elephant interactions… Animals can read our intentions, especially animals like elephants, dogs, chimps and parrots. They all have a very high EQ. If you interact with them at their level, they’ll respond. They are other nations who share our planet.

You’ve travelled extensively. Are there any places in Africa you still want to explore? There are many places I want to re-explore, particularly the Sahara and the rainforests in Gabon and the DRC. I’d probably never make it to the top, but I would also like to visit the Rwenzori Mountains in Uganda (the so-called Mountains of the Moon) and follow the great zebra migration across the Kalahari to the floodplains of the Chobe River.

Your favourite hiking spots in South Africa? The Cederberg, the beaches of the West Coast and the Cape Peninsula.

What do you find most appealing about a truly untamed region? It speaks to the wildness in us, a wildness that a city makes us forget.

Favourite travel books? The Worst Journey in the World by Apsley Cherry-Garrard, detailing his time in Antarctica with Captain Scott. It’s simply great travel writing. I can also recommend Trawler by Redmond O’Hanlon, about an insane fishing trip in the North Sea in winter, while the writer slowly goes mad. It offers a brilliant insight into humans under extreme duress. Then there’s The Road to Oxiana by Robert Byron, which is full of wonderful descriptions of Persia and Afghanistan, including some of the finest architectural descriptions in the English language. Wild as it Gets is published by Tafelberg and costs R240 in bookstores.