A writer's material does not come easily, ask those who write and they will tell you that it is one of the toughest professions in the world.

A detective often returns to the scene of an unsolved crime, seeks and scrutinises the findings of forensic experts in order to find irrevocable proof.

And so in my repeated efforts to hunt for a wildlife photographers' photographer I prevailed upon fellow writer, artist and photographer, Mohamed Ismail to show me samples of some of his more dramatic and unusual photographs.  

Coastweek - -  Bull elephant.

I had no doubt that Ismail would be the only person to possess an exceptional record of what we had had and what was very precious, but sadly unappreciated in those days !

Today, his photographic collection is archival and an asset that can never be replaced.

Ismail thanks hi-tech and the electronic age, as he patiently, spends hours scrutinising and scanning his transparencies, and then transferring them onto CD Roms.

In case you did not know, humidity and mildew are the worst enemies of such archives including books, and paintings.

Judge for yourselves, because photography of this nature not only requires considerable patience and for the photographer to be at the right place at the right time, but also a rare sense of perception and insight.

Coastweek - - Elephant soak-
ing upthe sun in the Uasa
Nyiro River (clockwise from
top) Oryx beisa near Lolokwe,
a lone bull buffalo takes his
ease in the Tsavo National
Game Park and photographer
Mohamed Ismail.