Mammals
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I had timed my first trip to the Maasai Mara, Kenya to try to give me the best opportunity to photograph a crossing, but due to lower rainfall than normal, many of the wildebeest had already started returning before I arrived. Each day, I checked on the various crossing points until late one afternoon, I noticed a build-up of wildebeest by the river that often preceded a crossing. The next morning, I arrived early and waited for several hours for the wildebeest to decide to cross. I had intended to photograph the wider scene with a train of wildebeest winding down the path on the opposite bank and swimming across the river, so was completely taken by surprise when one of the herd (seemingly inexplicably) decided to forego the queue and leap down the cliff-face. I quickly grabbed my longer lens and managed to get a few shots of a couple of other wildebeest who followed suit before the rest took the more logical and safer route to the river. Each year thousands of wildebeest die as a result of the crossings but miraculously the handful that leapt and bounced down the cavernous drop made it to the other side unharmed.
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