There is something magic about flying across Africa, bound for the world’s largest wildlife reserve. The little aircraft, buffeted by tropical turbulence, drones low over an infinity of sparsely-wooded savannah. Somewhere down there are 32,000 elephants, herds of buffalo and a handful of endangered black rhino. The sprawling Rufiji River twinkles in the sun as we approach, before that alarming surge down, down, thud, thump, onto a gravelled airstrip.

Out on the water… It is eerie to chug past the wake of a submerged hippo – at any moment our flimsy flat-bottomed craft could be gliding over the back of an animal big enough to capsize it. The river has risen overnight, bubbles belching to the surface. A grassy bank swarms with saurian shapes. African fish eagles perch on dead branches; white cattle egrets perch on the glistening backs of hippo browsing by the shore.

These images are scanned from 35mm Fujichrome or Ektachrome transparencies.