Stories from the field

Field Notes

First-hand accounts from the journeys: the waiting, the watching and the moments that made the wait worthwhile.

Photo: Dilan Jayawickrama

A brown bear charging through a river after a salmon, water spraying around it

Alaska

Where the bears wait, how the light moves across the water, and how to be ready one second before they move.
A Sri Lankan leopard sitting on a sand track in Yala, looking back over its shoulder

Sri Lanka

Why the best sighting of the season came after every other jeep had driven away.
Three tusked elephants drinking at a waterhole, water falling from their trunks

Kenya

What changes when the lens sits at the height of the waterline, and why a low angle gives elephants back their scale.