Lioness playing with her cubs at dawn in the Masai Mara in Kenya

Lion cubs playing at dawn

Large male lion with one of his cubs, dawn, Masai Mara

Leopard casually clambers down a tree in the Masai Mara. What you don’t see here are the half dozen safari vehicles also eagerly awaiting the moment he came down. He was completely unfazed by our presence

Leopard, dusk, Masai Mara

Jackals chatting

Large crocodile waiting for breakfast in the Mara River

Giraffe on the savannah, Masai Mara

Lion at dawn, Masai Mara

Fesdu Island, Maldives - W Retreat and Spa. The best island resorts in the Maldives are remote, small and have breathtaking house reefs surrounding them. At the W we swam with turtles, rays, five species of shark and clouds of spectacularly colourful fish just metres from our accommodation

The resorts of the Maldives are accessed either by speedboat, if they’re near a domestic airport, or in the case of W Retreat and Spa, Fesdu Island (and the other more remote islands), tourists are flown in by a Sea Taxi service, using De Havilland DHC-6 Twin Otter seaplanes

View of take-off from our own stretch of beach, Fesdu Island

The Maldives consists of over 1,000 islands, around 200 of which are inhabited. The highest point in the entire country is just 2.3m above sea level

Male’ Airport island, Maldives, as seen from a De Havilland Twin Otter seaplane