David Fettes's Image

It was the end of the dry season, and David was lying belly-down at the edge of Long Pool in Mana Pools National Park, Zimbabwe.

Hippopotamuses were arguing with each other as they vied for space - 'hurling water about', says David, 'and giving warning yawns to each other and to me.' As he watched through his lens, the evening light illuminated the scene, and one glowing hippo rose slowly from the water. 'I felt increasingly vulnerable,' says David, 'weighed down by a 500mm lens, conscious that lions or elephants could be approaching from behind to drink and aware that crocodiles were in the lake.' But though the hippo glared at him, David was outside its personal space, and the huge animal gradually sank back under the water.