Show us your Elephant Pictures

[Tom Kellie]

Why I Love Amboseli

Photographed at 11:21 am on 11 February, 2014 in Amboseli National Park, Kenya, using an EOS 1D X camera and an EF 400mm f/2.8L IS II super-telephoto lens.

ISO 800, 1/4000 sec., f/5.6, 400mm focal length, handheld Manual exposure.

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All three visits to Amboseli National Park in successive years have featured outstanding opportunities to observe and photograph elephants.

The sheer immensity of elephants remains a marvel in my eyes. That they exist with us in this era is a special blessing from nature which I appreciate.

 

[penolva]

Addo Elephant NP.

 

[marg]

Selinda 2007

[Tom Kellie]

Masai Mara Motherhood

Photographed at 8:35 am on 22 January, 2013 in Masai Mara National Reserve, Kenya, using an EOS 1D X camera and an EF 200mm f/2.8L IS telephoto lens + EF 2x extender.

ISO 100, 1/250 sec., f/5.6, 400mm focal length, handheld Manual Exposure.

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How many generations...how many eons...how many revolutions around the Sun have witnessed this same tender scene in East Africa, mother elephant and baby?

There is a profound sanctity in the bond linking newborn with mother, such that every time I see it, I'm grateful for the gift of life which all have received from their mothers.

[Tom Kellie]

Baby First

~ Photographed on 22 July, 2015 at 5:22 pm in Samburu National Reserve, Kenya, with a Sony RX1 R camera.

ISO 100, f/11, 1/250 sec., 35mm focal length, handheld Automatic exposure.

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The visits to Samburu this year impressed me with the strikingly high number of baby elephants observed in family groups. Conditions apparently favored high elephant fertility.

This mother followed her baby across a track, the early evening's red sunlight lending them a distinctive cast. Samburu's elephants are a welcome presence on every game drive.

[Game Warden]

So who has new elephant photos to upload?

[inyathi]

To me there’s almost nothing more wondrous on safari than to be up close to a wild bull elephant, being next to one of these animals, you can really see just how intelligent and also how gentle they can be and to have the trust of such a huge wild animal, is something very special. This extreme close up taken from the veranda of the Labuschagne’s house in Zakouma NP, almost makes me want to put my hand out and feel the contours of his face, of course I would never actually touch a wild elephant, but there’s just something so tactile about an elephant’s face when seen this close.

 

 

Edited June 2, 2020 by inyathi

[inyathi]

 

 

Zakouma Eye

Edited June 2, 2020 by inyathi

[Game Warden]

@@inyathi Seeing these last images makes me think about the recently poached elephant in Zakouma and I wonder, how many of the animals which we as Safaritalkers have photographed have since been poached? Depressing indeed.

[inyathi]

@@Game Warden Hopefully not from Zakouma but I have photos of elephants taken elsewhere that I'm fairly sure are no longer alive victims of the recent poaching epidemic very depressing.

 

 

 

While hanging around the Zakouma area of the park and coming to Le Directeur's house for a drink, this guy should be very safe, but of course right now, it's the wet season, so he will have wandered off and may well have gone out of the park, his tusks though thick are pretty short but still big enough to make him a tempting target for poachers. Almost 100 years ago, when the famous ivory hunter W.D.M. 'Karamojo' Bell was hunting along the Bahr Aouk, the river just a 100 miles or so to the south of Zakouma, that forms the border with C.A.R., there must still have been at least a good few big tuskers in the region. Not so now, relentless hunting has ensured that no such animals remain, Zakouma's elephants all have pretty small tusks compared many of the elephants in this thread, but poachers will take whatever they can get and will kill for tusks far smaller than this bull's. The recent poaching of two cows in the park is unfortunate proof of this, given the level of poaching elsewhere in Africa it is a remarkable acheivement that Zakouma has only had this one poaching incident in 3 years, we can only hope it proves to be a one off. That this friendly bull will be free to wander in safety and carry on doing his bit to help repopulate this special place with new calves, in between dropping in at the Labschagne's house for a drink.

Edited June 2, 2020 by inyathi

[inyathi]

 

Zakouma Wrinkles

 

Edited June 2, 2020 by inyathi

[inyathi]

 

Zakouma Tusks

 

Edited June 2, 2020 by inyathi

[Geoff]

One of my favourites. The sunset was spectacular. After a day of foraging in the forest, an elephant breeding herd run to water at the end of the Spillway. An image from just over 10 years ago. Selinda, Aug' 2005.

 

[Game Warden]

@@Geoff That's a wonderfully atmospheric shot.

[Geoff]

South Luangwa, 2008. Near Mwamba Camp.

 

Savuti, 2008. The texture of elephant hide.

 

 

 

[Marafiki Safari Lodge]

Big Bull Elephant, sniffing the air to check us out - Photographed in Queen Elizabeth N.P Uganda about 2 years ago

 

[Tom Kellie]

~ @@inyathi and @@Geoff

 

Your respective pachyderm hide shots are outstanding!

I've not yet been able to approach such technical excellence, but highly admire both of your work.

The tusks look 3-dimensional and the elephant herd running to water brings back memories.

Tom K.

[Tom Kellie]

Big Bull Elephant, sniffing the air to check us out - Photographed in Queen Elizabeth N.P Uganda about 2 years ago

 

~ @@Marafiki Safari Lodge

 

Welcome to Safaritalk!

It's very nice to have an operator from Uganda's Queen Elizabeth National Park on Safaritalk.

I've recently read about the quality of wildlife sighting around Lake George.

The immense tusks on that bull elephant are IMPRESSIVE!

Truly a majestic elephant. Thank you for sharing the image.

By all means tell us more about your lodge in the ‘Lodge, camp and operator news’ section.

Tom K.

[Tom Kellie]

Togetherness

Photographed on 28 January, 2015 at 5:57 pm in Buffalo Springs National Reserve, Kenya, using an EOS 1D X camera with an EF 400mm f/2.8L IS II super-telephoto lens.

ISO 500, 1/1000 sec., f/8, 400mm focal length, handheld Manual Exposure.

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~ At the close of a long safari's final game drive, we were in Buffalo Springs National Reserve at sundown, preparing to return to the lodge for dinner and sleep.

In the nearly dry channel of the Ewaso Nyiro River a mother elephant and her baby were drinking water together. The filtered warm tones of the fading light highlighted the beauty of maternal love.

[Soukous]

some elephant images from Hwange - Sep 2015

 

 

 

[elefromoz]

2012, taken from the balcony of our accommodation in the Tarangire C A.

 

[Big Andy]

@@Soukous That second image is a truly epic capture, were you in an underground hide to get that close and point of view also have you tried it converted to B&W?

Edited September 25, 2015 by Big Andy

[Soukous]

yes @@Big Andy I was in an underground hide.

It is located at Stoffie's Pan in Hwange NP.

 

To be honest I personally think that the hide is located on the wrong side of the pan.

It is located on the east side so that the sun is setting behind the elephants. When the sunset is good this works well but at certain times of the year when the sky is hazy and washed out, it is hard to get a decent background and so close ups are the only way to go.

 

I'd have preferred to have the sun setting behind the hide to throw nice light on the whole scene.

[Tom Kellie]

2012, taken from the balcony of our accommodation in the Tarangire C A.

 

~ @@elefromoz

 

What a tremendous image!

Not every photo needs to be a close-up, as such a long distance perspective has a charm all its own.

Like the luminosity, the overall composition, and the rendering of the distant elephants.

I'm so glad that you offered an entirely different perspective on elephants.

Nice!

Thank you!

Tom K.

[Earthian]

The meeting.......

 

Edited October 3, 2015 by Earthian