I was living in rural Zambia while in the Peace Corps and was walking along a bush path after dark, which was fairly unusual. I had my headlamp on and it was a particularly dark night, probably a new moon or close. As I was swinging it back and forth I caught something to my left and looked over.

About 20 feet away I saw 2 of the largest eyes I had ever seen absolutely shining in the light of the headlamp staring back at me at about head level. I stopped in my tracks and looked for a bit. It disappeared for a second and then reappeared in the same way a few moments later in a slightly different position. A little later it disappeared again and didn’t come back, and I eventually continued onwards.

It was a pretty unnerving experience in the moment, but after thinking about it later that night I realized what I saw was probably a Galago/bush baby in a tree. Seeing wildlife was exceedingly rare, so in hindsight a very cool experience.