Southern Africa, we need to talk about your sunsets.

I have spent the last couple of weeks travelling through Southern Africa - Zimbabwe, Namibia, Botswana and Zambia, and I have arrived at a thoroughly unbiased conclusion. This place is showing off.

The wildlife is amazing, of course. Lions laze beneath trees with occasional yawns and stretches after a healthy meal of the numerous antelopes. Leopards if you are lucky enough to see them vanish into the bush remind you they are there, just elusive. Cheetahs sit upright with graceful posture and scan the horizon with gait of seasoned professionals. Every night, somewhere in the darkness, hyenas begin calling to one another, a sound that is equal parts laughter and an ancient animal language.

Then morning comes, and the sand tells stories. Fresh footprints reveal who walked past your tent while you were asleep. An elephant, a hyena, a lion, all of them? You realise the night shift has been far busier than you imagined.

One thing surprised me most. Unlike many places in East Africa, the animals in Southern Africa are interestingly unconcerned by vehicles. The impala linger on the road looking at you curiously, elephants continue feeding, giraffes turn their long necks to show off their beautiful eye lashes. 

Part of that freedom comes from something interesting. Across the vast Kavango-Zambezi (KAZA) landscape, several countries have worked together to keep wildlife corridors open, allowing animals to move across borders that exist on maps but mean nothing to elephants, lions, or wild dogs. Communities, too, speak about "their" wildlife with genuine pride, not because they own it, but because they live alongside it and understand that its future is tied to theirs. It is conservation on a landscape scale, and you can feel it.

None of this comes cheaply though. By the time you've paid for flights, accommodation, and transport, your bank account is bleeping (relatively speaking). But some journeys repay you in ways that never appear on a receipt.

Then evening comes.

Just when you think the wildlife has already won the day's competition, the sky quietly clears its throat.

Southern Africa produces spectacular sunsets with almost unnecessary confidence and brilliance. Gold gives way to orange. Orange melts into pink. Purple may appear because restraint is not part of the regional character. The sky must put on a great show. The horizon becomes so beautiful that conversations fade away into one word - wow.

It occurred to me that this is God's most consistent daily habit. Every evening He paints a masterpiece, leaves it hanging above the horizon for a few glorious minutes, and then rolls it away until tomorrow. That is the finest performance of the day and it is completely free.

If you're wondering whether Southern Africa is worth visiting, my answer is simple. Come for the lions, the leopards, the cheetahs, the African wild dogs, the elephant trails, the hyenas calling through the night, the landscapes, and one of the world's greatest conservation stories.

Stay until sunset.

That's when this part of Africa really starts showing off. From where my feet are, I hope it never stops.