The beautiful Mount Kilimanjaro rises in the background of the setting of Buffalo at Amboseli, but I was more interested in conveying the detail and texture of this old buffalo’s own habitat - the trees, stumps, grasses, dust, and mud that surround him in the late-afternoon light.  As often happens, while I was painting I found a shape that interested me and that became a theme in the picture - a sickle shape that appears in the buffalo’s nostril and his horn.  This is echoed in the shadow on his rump, in the dry branches in the foreground, and in the mud. - Robert Bateman