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'The Beestwagon Defect'

Maasai Mara, Africa - 2023

The image caption "The Beestwagon Defect" refers to the psychological phenomenon "The bandwagon effect" which is the tendency where people adopt certain behaviours, styles, or attitudes simply because others are doing so.

In this particular image I had the pleasure to watch 1000s of wildebeests choosing to back out of crossing the Mara River between Kenya and Tanzania on the 15th September 2023. What I felt like I captured is the photo was one of the wildebeests looking back on the river thinking "I think we could have crossed that". It turned out that the wildebeests crossed the river the following night to make it past the Tanzania border to continue their migration around the Serengeti.

This photo means a lot to me for 2 reasons. The first reason being that the crossing of the Mara River only happens once a year and being there when they decided against crossing was for me a once in a lifetime experience. The 2nd reason is that I think everyone will have their own perception on what this photo means to them.

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