Conservation

The snorkelling elephant

An enjoyable and perplexing moment from my new book ‘On the road to elephants’

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My most special Kruger Park experience happened on the day when I was leaving.

“I’d already had a few adventures on this trip. First I got lost in the park after dark. And I had made myself quite sick with dehydration the day before I was leaving. So I departed late that last morning, to first make sure I wasn’t too dizzy to drive.

I was headed South through the park, to exit at the gate down below. And even though I had been told I wouldn’t see many elephants in that area of the park, I had the best sightings of the trip there.

Crossing a dried river bed, next to a dam wall, I observed a rather large elephant with big tusks in the distance, and decided to hang around for a bit.

And it was so worth it. Eventually that big guy came over to enjoy the shade of a big tree nearby. This was pretty much the biggest elephant I had seen so far, or ever. In a way that was an illusion because he was towering above me, because the road was built below that dam wall.

Me and the big elephant had a nice eye to eye right there. He was calm, but yes, a giant. So I think I trembled a bit inside. With my car parked just below him, the elephant, if angered, probably would have just needed to take one big leap to step on me. So here I did not plan to stay long.

But then another, more normally-sized elephant came walking across the plains. And it was doing something curious. It was using its trunk like a snorkel in the air – skilfully waving it about in a controlled way, a bit like an Indian dancer does with her arms. What was it doing? I had not seen this behaviour before.

It turns out that it was sniffing us, me and the big elephant. And it was headed our way. First, I thought for sure that it was signalling to the other elephant, making some kind of communication. By now he was standing very close to me, on the dam wall just above me. And he was signalling to me too!

What on earth, I thought. I was so excited, flabbergasted (and probably a little scared) that I accidentally caught part of the inside of my car roof in the frame, when I pointed my camera towards him.

Then I realized that he was actually smelling me! He was apparently very curious. Taking pictures, my car window was of course open, and the elephant was downwind from me. I felt a little guilty, as I realized I might be smelling of the Impala meat I had tasted at the lodge where I was staying the night before. How barbaric, he might have thought. Elephants are herbivores. …”

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Read more about ‘On the road to elephants’. And, buy the book.

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‘On the road to elephants’ has been published, and it’s making its way into online bookstores, worldwide. In the meantime, you can order the book directly from me.

The book is printed* in the US and ships worldwide. Price $67 + shipping.


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You can sample the contents of ‘On the road to elephants’ here, on Instagram, and the blog.

SAMPLE BOOK PAGES HERE

‘On the Road to Elephants’ is a soft-cover photography book with a written essay. Inside its pages, you’ll find lots of delightful elephant pictures. Although this isn’t really a ‘traditional’ wildlife ‘coffee-table’ book; it’s more of an essay about elephants, and more.

I explore, with my camera – from my rather small car – how elephants live in modern day (South) Africa. It’s a mixture of photo book, personal travel experiences and informal guide book. And, beyond the fun pictures and travel anecdotes, it’s also a more serious journalistic document about South Africa, and an exploration into our relationship, as humans, with elephants in a historical context.

Elephants are a keystone species in Africa, which means that the rest of the ecosystem, including other wildlife, depend on their survival. The issues affecting elephant populations vary from region to region in Africa. That’s why I focus on South Africa, on its own, and in context of what’s happening on the continent.

A gentle giant has gone

Among the many elephant pictures in my new book ‘On the road to elephants’ is a portrait of a man. His name is Tom Mahamba.

Just the other day, I found out that Tom had sadly died unexpectedly. At the time when I made my book, this selection of photographs – a row of elephants, and then a man – may have seemed a little unusual. But now, that choice makes ‘perfect’ sense. These were all clearly pictures of gentle giants…

I met Tom when I visited Tembe Elephant Park earlier this year. I went to Tembe to see its special ‘tuskers’ and the successfully community-driven conservation model adopted by Tembe Elephant Lodge, of which Tom was very much an integral part.

You can read more about Tom and the Tembe elephants in the book. I filled pages in a notebook in my conversations with Tom at the lodge, where I was treated like a welcomed guest and a friend.

Tembe is definitely a special place to meet gentle giants, including the elephants. I leave you with some of Tom’s words about them: “The elephants are indigenous. They were not brought in. It’s a good gene pool,” he said. “They are big in size and they have big tusks. And here you have the best elephant sightings in the province.”

Deep condolences to Tom’s family, friends and co-workers at the Lodge. I could see he was a very bright light to many.