Zakouma eye to eye.(Zakouma National Park)

Mike Fay's tales of giant groups of migrating elephants lured me to Chad, but soon I had a separate venture to pursue. In the dry season, an abundance of animals congregates in Zakouma, but you can't get close. So I decided to let them make self-portraits. I set up photographic traps--cameras equipped with an infrared beam that, when broken, triggers the shutter.

The clicking sound caught the attention of a baboon (below). Fascinated by his own reflection in the lens, he took 52 pictures of himself. Other young males couldn't resist fooling with the cameras, which my assistant, ...

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