Tsavo National Park Kenya Safari

I suspect we may have been the first humans this little chap had ever seen. He was absolutely fascinated by us, but very cautious. He kept very close to his mum for the first half hour or so.

Once he started getting used to us, he would move a little way from his mum, but he would scurry back to her if we moved too quickly or we got within his comfort space.

After an hour of waiting and watching, he eventually came right up to us. He had quite a large family. When his brothers felt he was perhaps getting too close to us, they would come and collect him and move him away.

But eventually they all seemed happy with us being there. Until, that is, the little one offered us some of his food. That was too much for mum, who collected him up and took him up into the tree branches, where she felt he would be safer.

But the troop stayed close by. I'm sure they were as interested in us as we were in them.

This was one of the few places where we were able to get out of the vehicle. Except in a small handful of places, the same rules apply to all of the Kenya Safari Parks, you must at all times remain within the vehicle.

Kenya is very restrictive in this respect and it was a bit of a let down to find ourselves prevented from departing the safari lodge before sunrise so that we were unable to get into position to photograph it. We had to be back before sunset, too.

Although I have not been to Tanzania for some considerable time, I understand they are still much more relaxed about this, particularly for photographers and those with a particular requirement to be out early or late.