>>2586298to expand on this:
When you drift on an inflatable dinghy (which is easy to transport in a car to your photospot) towards animals, they don't run away. You can get insanely close and still not have them run away from you.
Stole this idea from Ray Mears's video about canoeing, and only so far used it for bird photography, but my friends tell me that they get amazing shots of mammals as well.
Apart from that, being that low on the water is great for framing of your shots. You're not shooting down 'into' the water, so you're getting nice background separation. For those kinds of shots I used to actually go up to my neck in the water and sneak up on animals, but that requires warm weather and not being afraid for your gear.
