Roadblock Botswana style

When you are on a drive through the bush and you see a roadblock like this, it's not about taxes. It makes you stop and take out your camera.

For the first 10 times in Africa and you join a what they call a game drive, what you hope for is a lion. Of all the animals that cat has our minds and imagination in a tide grip. Yes, there are elephants, buffalos, hippos, or giraffes and you'll be always on the lookout. After the sighting of a few lions depending on where you are you want more. One could almost compare it with drug addiction. As sad as it is the fascination stays, yet one needs more and more exciting. The sightings seem too easy. One aspect we observed over the years is that many animal watchers work their way up the grade of difficulty of sighting different animals. Many times the story becomes also a task. The rarer an animal the more satisfying the experience. For some people that also includes taking full ownership of the animal = the need to kill and exhibit the act. This is damaging one ecosystem after another.

There is a different path. Happy to see; are visitors that take on a more nature-friendly path. That usually ends in investigating the animals more and the attempt to understand them better. Funny enough this often leads to relentless methodological study and the consequent buildup of knowledge of the birds with all the interesting facts that relate to them.

Next Level Birdwatching.
Then you start getting the biggest lenses and most expensive lenses instead of a riffle. These people hunt for images and start taking pictures of tiny super rare birds. That is actually super cool - we start to understand and appreciate that path.