Africa

The snorkelling elephant

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

NewExcerpt

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. …”

All content on this blog is Copyright ©Eva-Lotta Jansson 2017-2018. All rights reserved.

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

Buy ‘On the road to elephants’


‘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.


‘On the road to elephants’ + US shipping:

‘On the road to elephants’ + UK shipping


I’ve included a payment button valid for shipping within the US, or to the UK, above.

However, I’ll be happy to ship the book to you anywhere!; simply use the contact form to send me a message. Please tell me your shipping location and how many copies you’d like to buy, and I’ll calculate your shipping fees and revert with a Paypal link specifically for you.

*Please note that the printer offers no refunds as each copy of the book is printed when you pay for it. So therefore, I too have a no-refund policy, not matter what PayPal might say.

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.

Happy New Year!


Happy New Year! Hope all your dreams come true in 2018.

Here’s an elephant New Year’s kiss for you.

The displays of love and affection among elephants are some of the behaviours that make them so dear to us. However, although this might seem like merely an enjoyable French kiss, the act may actually also serve another purpose.

The elephants are exchanging information by connecting like this through their mouths, an elephant handler explained to me. By ‘kissing, they can find out where the other elephant has travelled from, and what the soil and food was like there, for example. This is research I would love to find out more about!

I met these particular elephants at the Knysna Elephant Park, in the Western Cape. For this and more elephant stories, please check out my new book ‘On the road to elephants.’

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.

Elephant blog

Copyright Eva-Lotta Jansson 2017. All rights reserved.

Copyright Eva-Lotta Jansson 2017. All rights reserved.

Now that my elephant book is finished – and it’s making its way into the online bookshops – I think it’s time I started a blog.

Writing blogs to highlight an issue is something I do for my clients as a social media consultant, as it’s a great way to tell stories. So it’s about time that I also write a blog for myself and the elephants. Stay tuned! I’d love to connect with you here about elephants and conservation. (And please come the Creative Experiences FB page, to discuss some more.) From time to time, I’ll also share with you what I think are good practices when it comes to communication online about these sometimes sensitive and political issues – if our aim is to serve the greater good.

My new book, “On the Road to Elephants” is a photography book with a written essay. Although it’s not really a ‘normal’ wildlife book. It’s a book about elephants, and more. I explore, with my camera, how elephants live in modern day (South) Africa.

It’s a mixture of photo book, personal travel experiences and informal guide book. Beyond 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, both today, and throughout our past.

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. That’s why I focus on South Africa, on its own, and in context of what’s happening on the continent.

“On the road to elephants” is available in online bookstores, including Amazon. You may also special order the book through your local online bookstore, or directly here at CreativeExperiencesSA.com