WATERHOLE THRILLS 77 



slaughter. As a result, when giraffes, zebra or oryx 

 are drinking they prick up their ears at the sHght 

 first sound of the camera handle turning. I try to 

 have my machines noiseless, for the slightest click 

 or murmur of gears reaches the ears of these shy 

 animals. 



The minute I start turning the handle the animal 

 looks around. But as the sound continues and 

 nothing happens, he goes ahead drinking. When I 

 stop, he gets another start and looks around again. 

 Strange to say, the click of the still camera frightens 

 him more than the whirr of the movie camera. 



The larger the herd the less chance there is of 

 getting a picture of common game. The opposite 

 is true of elephants. A single elephant is always on 

 the alert. He knows that the slightest noise may 

 mean danger. But when a herd of elephants come 

 together they are unlikely to stampede. They 

 seem to take it for granted that any noise is made by 

 one of the other elephants. Thus I can always get 

 closer with less danger to a herd of elephants than I 

 can to a single one. 



In the long hours at the waterhole one cannot 

 but grow to observe the markings of individual 

 animals. 



There was one zebra I used to see time and again. 

 He had a long scar on his back that looked as if it had 

 been caused by a lion. 



