Encountering a leopard face to face in the wilderness of Africa is a thrill often reserved for dreams. For Donna Johnson, president of Pinnacle Technology Inc., the dream became a reality when she traveled on her first safari.

In 2001, Johnson was headed to South Africa on business when she decided to set aside time for a four-day safari.

Johnson’s first adventure began as soon as she dropped her belongings off at camp and boarded a truck that was headed into the open wilderness.

“We’re driving around, and 30 seconds after we leave camp we’re totally lost,” she recalls. “We’ve been doing 5 miles per hour down dirt paths. It’s dark, and we have a spotlight on. All of a sudden the radio goes off and the driver takes off. The tracker (who is usually on the front of the jeep looking at footprints) is climbing over the hood of the jeep. I have no idea what’s going on. The guide looks up at the stars and then takes off through the woods.”

Another truck had spotted a leopard.

“At one point he just walked right past me. I’m looking at him; he’s looking at me. He had staked out a wart hog den, and when the warthogs came back he took off. He killed one and took it up in a tree. I found out later that people had gone for 20 years and never seen a kill, and I saw one on the first game drive.”

Since that time, Johnson says she has become addicted to safaris. She completed her sixth in 2008.

“I’ve fallen in love with southern Africa in general,” she says. “The people are just incredible. For me personally, I decompress so quickly. There’s no TV; there’s no newspapers. People drive me around and show me things I could never see anywhere else. Each time you go, something different happens. No two drives are the same.”

Over the years, Johnson has seen the economic impact of tourism in southern Africa.

“Near the camps the quality of life is improving,” she says. “The school system is improving. The housing is improving.”

Johnson says she tries to give back to the areas she visits.

“I usually jam a suitcase full of things for one of the local nurseries or schools, things they could use but don’t have,” she says.