I found that zebra would stop and look and investigate people and cars in the park. So would springbok and impala, and gemsbok always looked up suspiciously when I neared them. But giraffe largely ignored the people and cars in the park.

This giraffe, pictured at Chudop waterhole, was much more inquisitive than most and spent some time looking at me and the car.

Giraffe are nearly as tall as a two storey building. They weigh well over a tonne. But they can hide remarkably effectively.

This giraffe was photographed near the Namutomi camp.

Giraffe go through a lengthy pantomime each time they want to drink. They have two problems. Their legs are longer than their necks. And they are vulnerable to lion only when drinking (otherwise, a giraffe can kick a lion to death).

To get their heads down far enough, they spread their front legs, first one foot, then the other. Some giraffe (I think maybe older ones) also bend their knees, as this one did.

To avoid a lion, each giraffe spends several minutes at the water’s edge, looking around, sniffing the air, making absolutely sure, checking again, shuffling his or her feet, just having one last look, leaning a little towards the water, giving one last look around, having another quick look around, and finally leaning forward to drink.

Watching giraffe alone it is easy to forget just how big they are. Giraffe are nearly three times as tall as a zebra at the shoulder, and weigh nearly four times as much.

The gates of each camp close at sunset. I frequently found that I had lingered too long watching animals and then I struggled to get home on time while driving within the 60km/hr speed limit.

That was the case one afternoon when I had 41km to drive from Andoni Plain back to the Namutomi camp. I had no time to be distracted or slowed down, when I came across these giraffe on the road.

Seen from afar when they are at a waterhole, giraffe look tall and lithe and elegant. Seen up close, right next to the car, they were frighteningly large, muscular and strong. I worried that one would run onto the road in front of the car. Giraffe spread along the road for perhaps 100m. I made it back to camp with only minutes to spare!

One afternoon I was at Chudop waterhole on my own. Some gemsbok and zebra had been around, but they all wandered away. Then along came a giraffe, then some more giraffe, then another family. Eventually I counted 38 giraffe around the waterhole. And I was the only one there to see them!

While at Chudop, when there were 38 giraffe around the waterhole, two warthogs came along. They seemed so small, and so comical surrounded by the tall giraffe.

Two days after I saw the lions on the road, above, some German tourists told me they had spent over an hour looking at lions at the Homob waterhole. So off to Homob I went. What transpired still seems extraordinary.

This is the scene: it was 3.30pm at Homob waterhole, with trees and bushes beyond it, and an open area around the waterhole itself.

A pride of lions was snoozing under the trees. They had been there all day. You can see two lion just in front of the tree at the back on the left. Another is in the shade of the next, big, green tree. A fourth is behind the small green bush on the left, at the front. Some others are near the trunk of the main tree in the photo.

If you can’t see the lions, hover over the photo to see a cropped, larger version of the picture, with the lions marked on the photo.

When I first got there, half a dozen springbok were on the ridge near the cars. They were still and attentive, and wandered away.

Half an hour later a giraffe arrived, coming in from the right, browsing on the trees beyond the waterhole. He was about 100m from the lions.

As he browsed from tree to tree, he moved in much closer to the lions, heading for the waterhole.

As the giraffe reached the waterhole, the lions began to shift around, and he stood watching them closely for some time.

It was clear the giraffe wanted to drink. A giraffe can kill a lion with its feet, but they are vulnerable when drinking.

The giraffe had slowly moved round to our side of the waterhole. He wanted to drink. The lions kept shifting around. They stared at each other.

Here, he is looking straight at the lions under the trees.

It takes some time for a giraffe to prepare to drink. He must balance carefully, then spread his front legs widely to get down far enough. It’s then that he would be vulnerable to attack.

It almost seemed as if he was prepared to risk it. After all, these were sleepy lions that had spent all day in the shade of some trees. But perhaps they were ready for dinner.

It was about now that I realized the lion pride included cubs. They’re too small to see on the photos. But they made me think that the lions would have more reason to hunt.

Whatever her reason, one of the lionesses decided to act.

Follow the giraffe’s line of sight, and you can just see a lioness between the two trees, behind the little bush.

She walked very slowly, very deliberately, to the waterhole.

She walked all the way to the waterhole. For a long time, the giraffe stood his ground. At some point, the lioness was too close for comfort. Then he bolted.

But he didn’t go far. Only about 50m away. Then he stood still and again watched the lions.

And she drank. At length.

The giraffe looked on. Here we have a giraffe and a lion at a waterhole together. You can see the lioness’s reflection in the water more easily than you can see her body against the ground.

Meanwhile, another lioness from the pride had walked, also slowly and deliberately to the waterhole, and drank.

Then the male from the pride got up and walked towards the lionesses at the waterhole.

Did the giraffe ever get a drink? Did the giraffe become dinner? Regrettably, I’ll never know. I had 28k to get to Okaukuejo camp for the night. The gates close at sunset. I was the last car at the waterhole. I had waited longer than I should have.

I had to leave. The lions were drinking. The giraffe was looking. It appeared that there was a stand-off.