Never be afraid to stop the vehicle and check.
Countless times we've reversed back only to confirm that "that rock" is not the lazy lion it so aptly impersonates...
or to make certain that the inquisitive cheetah poking his head up out of the grass is in fact a rather splendid bit of tree trunk.
On this occasion after a seemingly endless run of false alarms we were rewarded with a remarkable sight...
A lone male Roan Antalope making his way accross the rigdgline between Lamai and the Mara River.
An extremely elusive creature, many a safari veteran has an empty Roan box that awaits a tick -
having spoken to the Lamai guides we have since confirmed that there were a few fragmented reports of a Roan sighted in the northern Serengeti last seson but nothing since early 2013 .
Predominantly a grazer Roan seek out areas with medium to high grasses, they need constant standing water sources and avoid the competition of larger numbers of herbivores.
Lamai is a brilliant habitat match but only at this time of year, the wildebeest would certainly be enough to convince even the most stuborn of terratrial bulls to move with the times.
This was our first ever sighting and although he was shy of the vehicle we were close enough to see how magnificent a Roan Bull really is.
Massive at the shoulder only the Eland can look down on the Roan bull within the antelope fraternity.
As to why this male was alone on the plain, we can only theorise.
Perhaps he's a bachelour looking for a dominant male to usurp.
Perhaps his own herd were just beyond our horizon and we'll manage to catch up with them all in the next few weeks.
Either way, this was a treat!