I strain my eyes but see nothing. Nomadic, the Masai spend entire lifetimes in lion country. After exchanging a few words with George, they stride away and vanish in the shimmering heat. Driving into the Mara is like entering a pastoral Eden. Herds of wildebeest and zebra dot the rolling hills.
Gazelles leap ahead of our van, racing full speed across the savanna.
Giraffes drift ghostlike among stands of acacia. Wart hog families trot single file through the dried grass, their whiplike tails held straight up. At first the clicking of camera shutters threatens to drown out the bird song and the braying of zebras as, one by one, the animals we've seen only on television materialize before us. This is National Geographic Africa. We soon learn to pace our picture-taking, knowing we'll have a week to shoot film.