Adolescent elephants separated from the herd notice safari truck with photographer sticking her head out...

So the story goes that we were sitting in our safari vehicle watching a huge herd of elephants for probably a half hour. It was about the first hour of our first game drive, and we were on cloud nine seeing so many wild elephants in the same place.

 

Then our driver got a call, and said that he wanted to take us to see some water buffalo, so we left the elephants (the herd was crossing the road we were on) and went to see the water buffalo. After about 15 minutes with the water buffalo, we came back down the same road. The herd had finished crossing, and we stopped to watch them get farther from us.

 

Then we noticed these two young guys. They were walking toward the herd, but walking rather quickly, as they probably realized that they had been left behind. Our truck was parked in the direct line between the two adolescent bulls and their herd.

 

Well, of course, I knew that this meant I would get great opportunities to take photos. :-) So I stood up (the top of the safari vehicle was open so that you could stand up on your seat to view the wildlife) with my camera in hand, long lens ready to get some closeup shots.

 

The moment he saw me stand up, he made eye contact with me (which was really weird). And he started moving a lot faster. And I realized (as I was, of course, snapping shots off) that he wasn't going to veer from the path of the truck. Meanwhile, our driver wasn't making any effort to move the truck out of the way (the engine was off). As the elephant got closer (he never stopped looking directly at me!) he started trumpeting and throwing his head around.

 

Okay, so I figured that since I seemed to be the target of his "rage" (there were 7 other people in the truck, but he was only looking at me!), I would get where he couldn't see me. I looked at him and said (somewhat loudly), "I'm sitting down! I'm sitting down!!" When my face disappeared, he stopped running and trumpeting.

 

Dummy me ... I figured that maybe I was not the cause of his rage in the first place, and really ... I just wanted to take some great shots. So I stood back up again. And, again, the same thing happened. The running and trumpeting and thrashing of the head .... and our driver not moving a millimeter! So, again, I told the elephant that I would be sitting down ... and did so ... and he stopped his charge.

 

Of course, I'm not one to learn a lesson. So I stood up AGAIN, snapped some more photos ... he came about three inches from the truck, trumpeted, thrashed ... but never touched us. He and his friend then ran off after the herd.

 

Our driver was in the process of laughing and laughing and laughing. Remember ... this whole incident probably took about three minutes, less time that it might take you to read this lengthy comment. :-) Well, when we finally got the driver to tell us what he was laughing at, he said that it was hilarious that I was talking to the elephant. For the next three days, he kept chuckling to himself ... and would tell us that he'll never forget that incident and that in all his years of driving the safaris on the Maasai Mara, it was the funniest thing he's ever seen a client do.

 

I was not nearly amused as he was.

 

He also told us that we were never in danger of being charged. The adolescent bull merely wanted to show us some bravado.

 

Any thoughts, photographically, on this hard earned image?

By the way, if you want to see some discussions of my willingness for risk taking when I'm photographing wildlife (by the way, some of YOU define "willingness for risk taking" a bit differently than I do!), please check here, here, here ... or some other images in my portflio. :-D

Please see the other two images uploaded at the same time. If you have

a few minutes, please read the story that goes with these images. Any

comments or ratings are always appreciated! :-)

This must have been beautiful to see.

I'm like your guide, I'm still chuckling, but I can't help but wonder about the risk factor, the elephant was displaying agressive behavior and as big as they are I'm not sure I'd be comfortable sitting in a vehicle that he could probably inflict some serious damage on with me inside, what an adventure you had so far from home. Hope your journey back has been a happy one and you'll find that "perfect place" to be.

Thanks, Susan - you're right, none of us (except the driver) was sure about the aggression of the beast. We asked the driver about it later, and he said that the adolescent males of many species often display bravado that they never intend to follow through with any act of aggression. He assured us that if he had any doubts as to the danger of the situation, we'd have been out of there immediately. We asked if he had ever been charged by an elephant, and in all his years of driving it had only happened once: it was a full grown adult bull who decided to charge the truck. I'm still not sure..... :-)

Well it's a great story with a wonderful image to retell it in the years to come. The image itself is fascinating, wonderful colors and nice detail.

Gorgeous shots and good to know the story behind them. I'm glad he didn't reach up there and carry you away to live with the herd. We might be saying, "Whatever happened to Lou Ann?" right now. Well earned indeed, "Jane"! ~Sky

Very beautiful, nice colours. Just a pity that the first elephant is a bit blurred.

outstanding !