Gentle giants

Once of my most memorable animal encounters was a morning stop watching a herd of elephants. These aristocratic animals have a dignity and intelligence that soon becomes obvious when spending just a short time with them. To learn more about them I would suggest watching Bob Poole Films on Vimeo. It is also intimidating to have one check you out in an open Range Rover.

Following Mom

Elephant babies are completely dependent on their mother for months after birth. This young one is about a week old. It takes 6 months to learn to use their trunk and begin to explore with it. With a life expectancy of several decades they continue to learn for several years, much like human children. Sometimes life is not so kind to a young elephant. For one such story read: The Story of Pili

Early morning elephant

Each morning we left camp before sunrise to arrive at a location for shooting it or early morning carcass activity. Lions hunt at night and the hope was getting them on a carcass before hyenas had claimed it. On the way out one morning I had to stop for a minute to shoot this elephant browsing. It was also a great opportunity to push the limits of Sony technology.

Technical: Sony a7r2, Canon 100-400 lens @1/160, f5.0, ISO 102400