I took this photograph from a boat on Chobe River in ChobeNational Park, Botswana. We spotted this Southern Giraffe grazing on a hilltop in the late afternoon. My goal was to capture the giraffe as a silhouette against the setting sun, with the sunset sky providing the background. I watched and waited for about 45 minutes as the sun moved lower in the sky. The wait was nerve-wracking, because the giraffe could have wandered away at any moment, and clouds could have covered the sun, blocking the light in needed for the shot I wanted. All I could do is hope that the conditions would come together. The wait paid off when the sun reached the right position, and the giraffe remained on the hilltop. The sunset sky created a clear silhouette of the giraffe, and then several oxpeckers flew from the giraffe and circled around its head. For a brief moment, the birds formed a ring around the giraffe, creating the distinctive shape captured in this photograph.