Adolescent elephant separated from the herd

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 this young guy and his friend. 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! :-)

Hello Lou

Your experience is a typical case of Elephant intelligence.They are unique creatures very clever and emotional too and every encounter with them in Africa is always a beautiful memory to recall. I always remember our vehicle surrounded by a huge group of Elephants in Taranire N.P.-Tanzania. We barely moved or made a single sound! By the way, nice composition and colors in this photo :)

Greetings from Greece