Magical Exploits
An elephant encounter can become more interesting when you stop trying to make it closer. From an appropriate viewing position, you can watch how animals move through a setting, use their trunks, feed and respond to one another.
You can visit the Mara during a period associated with the Great Migration and never see a river crossing. The animals may be elsewhere, may remain near a river without crossing, or may move when you are not there.
Rain affects more than whether you need a jacket. It can change the route a guide chooses, the pace of a road transfer, the light for photography and the balance between time outside and time in camp.
A line of wildebeest moving across the Mara is a small view of a much larger system.
At a possible river crossing, the most useful thing a visitor can contribute is restraint.
Start with the ears, then look at the stripes.
The name “reticulated” refers to a network.
When Kilimanjaro disappears into cloud, the photograph you planned may disappear with it.
The vehicle has stopped, the animal is resting and nothing dramatic seems to be happening.
You can be excited about lions and elephants without making five sightings the scorecard for your whole safari.