The first words I heard were "Welcome home", and then I was swallowed up in an energetic hug from the feisty and voluptuous Mama Connie. I had just arrived at the Ngala Safari Lodge, which was to be my South African base for five days.
Set in a dense thicket of mopane and tamboti trees, Ngala is the sort of place many photographers dream about: perfect for chasing the Big Five and capturing the kind of wildlife only Africa can offer.
Ngala was the first private game reserve to be incorporated into Kruger national park and has exclusive traversing rights on more than 37,000 acres of one of the richest wildlife reserves in southern Africa.
I had been awarded the opportunity to spend time there after winning the yearly Guardian Been there readers' travel photography competition in 2011, and could not wait to put my camera to work.
The prize included five days of safari drives. In our private vehicle, my husband and I – plus an expert tracker and a specialist photography guide – had two opportunities a day to find the right locations for capturing images of the animals.
The two guides I worked with over the course of the week, Robin and Pieter, who work for tour company &Beyond, both offered lots of tips really useful for a wildlife photography novice like me.
The land blessed us as guests and provided many wonderful wildlife sightings on our drives: lazy leopards draped across tree branches, cheetahs stalking their prey as impala scattered back and forth like dizzy spinning tops, elephants plodding through the burnt-looking landscape, and the king of the plains, the majestic lion, slowly making his way through the long grass.
I'm a keen amateur photographer and usually focus on human portraiture, but I quickly found myself looking for the spark in the eyes of my animal subjects and for that magical moment when they turned to face the camera.
I learned a lot about patience: one of the top tips given by &Beyond guide Robin was to position myself well in a spot with access to the golden dawn light and then wait for the animal to turn to face me. Many safari guests will spend a lot of time chasing animals in their vehicles but forget the essentials of a good photograph.
I also learned to use my other senses a lot more: a sudden sound might offer a clue to a new animal sighting, or you could ruin a great photo opportunity by being downwind when a shy and reclusive leopard comes by.
Wildlife photography engages all the senses in a way human portraiture does not and the earthy smell of potato bushes and the melodious sound of the natural environment carrying on with its daily business provided a backdrop to the photography, which soon became addictive.
The local community has close links with Ngala, and &Beyond works in partnership with conservation body the Africa Foundation.
Some of the profits generated at the wildlife reserve, and guest donations, are used to help people in the village of Welverdiend – through income-generating projects such as a handicrafts centre, and with education and healthcare provision.
At the lodge the tourist experience is also one of connection to the land. Guest bedrooms are furnished to reflect the colours that lie beyond their doors. Eating meat and vegetables from South African soil surrounded by glowing lanterns under bright stars was perhaps a cliché, but a very enjoyable one. As buffalo arrived at the lodge to drink from a watering hole, staff laughed along with guests.
On my last day at Ngala I sat outside with Mama Connie, listening to nature's song. She told me: "The staff are not here for the salary. We are here because we love it here. Home is a place where everyone feels special, and we try and make this place home for our guests because for us it is home also. We are in a beautiful place and it is up to us to keep it beautiful and offer others a chance to see it."
When I look at my images I feel proud that while I will never call myself a wildlife photographer, I was given the opportunity to develop a new set of skills that I hope to carry into the future: more patience, a keener understanding of natural light, and the ability to respond well to the environment.
I was expecting to come home from South Africa having had some great experiences, but I left Ngala feeling that I had also been gifted a small part of that land in my photographs, and that I had been able to leave a part of myself there too.
• &Beyond (+27 11 809 4300, andbeyond.com) provided the accommodation and flights from the UK. A five-night all-inclusive safari based at Ngala costs from £1,650pp, based on two sharing. South African Airways (flysaa.com) flies to Johannesburg from Heathrow from £550 return. More information on Africa Foundation projects from africafoundation.org. See more of Laura Cook's photographs at lauracookphotography.net
