SERENGETI NATIONAL PARK, TANZANIA-The air isn’t actually electric, but I can still feel the hairs on the back of my neck standing straight up. Out on the savannah, the circle of life is beginning to swirl. Swaggering over to a big herd of wildebeest, a pack of nine African wild dogs spread their formation strategically, fanning out to flank them, legs light on the prairie grass but eyes laser-focused on their goal.
Picking up the cue, a half-dozen opportunistic, spotted hyena slink into the picture, remaining on the margins, for the moment. Finally spotting the threat, the wildebeest, all at once, break into a full gallop — the dogs hotly chasing, the hyena trailing — plowing directly through a pond, pumping hooves seeming to turn its murky waters to vapour.
