Not many tour guides will admit it, but there is very little in the natural world that is predictable other than geological phenomena. Spending vast amounts of time and money - booking the best guides in the most sought-after lodges - does not necessarily guarantee you the outcome you are wishing for. Fortunately, the reverse is also true - sometimes adventure appears in the most unexpected places and the experience comes to you with almost no effort on your part.
I had long wanted to see a bird called the resplendent quetzal. But I had made half a dozen unsuccessful trips to in Costa Rica before I finally got lucky. Just as I arrived at the entrance kiosk to the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, someone hollered across the car park, pointing at my car. I ran back, fearing that my wheels were being stolen, only to find the bird of my fantasies, a stunning male eating wild avocados in the tree above. The less than glamorous setting immediately dissolved away - it was just me and the bird. I later went round the reserve but, even after a further day in prime quetzal habitat, to this day the only one I have ever seen was in a car park.
My career is peppered with similar experiences, like the two days I spent in the Congo failing to find a particular troop of elephants. I returned to camp exhausted, to be woken in the middle of the night by a violent rocking motion as the same 20 elusive elephants took it in turns to scratch their flanks on the walls of my hut.
My first anaconda didn't come easily either. I had actually given up the search and was consoling myself with a spot of birdwatching when the heron I was admiring was suddenly pulled beneath the surface by a giant coil of the aforementioned snake.
Such is the lot of the ecotourist. When Jacques Cousteau said that the only predictable thing about sharks is that they are unpredictable, he could have been talking about the whole of the natural world. But I guess the risk of not seeing what you want is partly where the thrill of the search comes from. If the experiences you get from going on safari were as guaranteed as going to the zoo, then we wouldn't bother. It's well worth keeping this in mind if you're ever disappointed.
My best advice is to go on holiday with no fixed ideas and remember it's often the journey that is the adventure - the goal is just something that keeps you getting out of bed in the morning.
· Nick Baker is a presenter on the BBC's Really Wild Show.
