To the naked eye they looked more like little shifting black beetles than anything else, but in the glasses they were plainly revealed with swaying bodies and flapping ears and swinging trunks.
In elephant hunting the first important thing to consider is the wind, for the elephant is very keen-scented and is quick to detect a breath of danger in the breeze.

Fortunately we had seen them in time.

If we had gone ahead a few hundred yards they would have got our wind and gone away in alarm, but this had not occurred.

We could see that they were feeding quietly and without the slightest evidence of uneasiness.
[Photograph: Some Kikuyu Belles] [Photograph: Wanderobo Guides] We left our horses and the porters under a big tree and told the latter to come on if they heard any firing; otherwise, they were to await our return.

Then, with only our gunbearers and a man carrying Akeley's large camera, we circled in a wide detour until we were safely behind the elephants.