The trouble with elephants (PICS)

DM51

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On a couple of previous occasions I have mentioned the problem of elephants — the difficulties involved in discouraging them from walking though a campsite, and the inconvenience and havoc that can result if they insist on doing so — but few people seem to have taken the matter seriously. Indeed, my grave warnings about the perils of elephants have been largely ignored, if not ridiculed, lol.

I was reluctantly forced to the conclusion that in order to convince the sceptics among you, photographic evidence would be necessary. I accordingly set forth to locate a suitable campsite in an area in which elephants had been seen from time to time.

A long and arduous journey took me through savage parts of the world lol, to the banks of the Zambezi River, where camp was made. During subsequent forays into the surrounding bush, elephants were sighted, but none came close until the third night, when we were driving along a rough track in the dark in an open-topped Land-Cruiser. A large cow elephant suddenly appeared from nowhere and charged at us. I shone my Wolf Eyes M90 (LF EO-13, 3xAW18500) into its eyes, which certainly startled the elephant and made it pause, but I don't know whether the light would have stopped it completely as we didn't wait around to find out, on the grounds that a 3-ton Land Cruiser vs. a 6-ton elephant would not have been a very even contest, lol.

So, I hear you cry, where are the photos of this exciting incident? LOL, the answer is that it is unfortunately quite difficult to take pictures at night when you are holding a bright light in one hand and a steering wheel in the other, and being charged by a large and ill-tempered elephant.

After a further week of searching for these large but elusive beasts, we had returned to the camp at midday for lunch, when we heard some rustling and rumbling noises coming from the bush nearby. This is what we saw. Look carefully at the centre of the picture.
Elephant-1.jpg


After a while, the elephant emerged briefly from the shadows and seemed to be making for one of the tents. It didn't seem to be in any hurry, and at this stage it had not seen us, although it would have been able to smell our presence in the area. It was a large bull elephant, with good tusks.
Elephant-2.jpg


I moved round to the left as quietly as I could, to try to get some better photos. It is extraordinary how easily such an enormous animal can blend into the scenery if it wants to. Unless they come out into the open, they can be difficult to see until you get quite close to them.
Elephant-3.jpg


The elephant seemed to be making for our shower enclosure, which it could have destroyed with ease if it wanted to. BTW that is a great shower enclosure — the wood-burning water heater you can see in the pic is extremely efficient.
Elephant-4.jpg


Something on my left must have distracted the elephant at this point, because it looked off in that direction, turning away from the shower enclosure.
Elephant-5.jpg


It appeared not to have been alarmed by whatever it had seen, but I moved behind a tree to keep out of its sight.
Elephant-6.jpg


After a while it was fairly clear (to our great relief) that the elephant was in a reasonable mood, and that all it wanted was the acacia seed-pods which had fallen from the trees in the campsite and were spread in profusion on the ground. It continued to wander about, picking these up and eating them. Nevertheless, we took great care not to do anything to startle or annoy it.

I suspected that nobody on CPF would believe any of this, lol, even with these photos, which could probably have been taken almost anywhere and not necessarily by me. So I thought I had better provide incontrovertible evidence, in the form of a photo with one of my lights in the foreground and the elephant in the background. I unhooked my CR2 Ion XT from my keychain and put it on a camp table to get this shot:
Elephant-7.jpg


The bull elephant stayed in the camp for about 30 minutes, peacefully enjoying the acacia pods. It eventually left as quietly as it had arrived. Later we saw it had swum ~¼ mile across one of the Zambezi channels to an island.
Elephant-8.jpg


The following day it was seen again, about 10 miles away.

This bull elephant seemed uncharacteristically placid and accepting of human presence. Other elephants there are much wilder and more aggressive, like the cow that charged us on the 3rd night. If that one had shown up in the camp, we might have had a lot of trouble with it.

Poachers have been known to operate in this area, and this bull has good tusks which would be bound to attract them. It may have wandered in from a game sanctuary; I hope it finds its way back there to safety.
 

kelmo

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Very Cool!


BTW, how do you know if an elephant(s) has had sex in your camp?


Answer, your tent is broken and your garbage can liner is missing! LOL
 

greenLED

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Very cool. I took a (blurry) of a female elephant charging at our rig down in ZA. I agree - it's amazing how such large animals can blend into the background vegetation.
 

z96Cobra

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Photoshopped...

:D Just kidding! Someone had to say it. Awesome pics! It would be awesome to go on a trip like that.

Roger
 

nobody

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Excellent photos! Mine would have been really shaky that close to such a huge beast.
 

DM51

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z96Cobra said:
Photoshopped... just kidding! Someone had to say it.
LOL - in fact I'm glad you did, because one of the pics is actually quite weird and I can't explain it.

Look at pic #3 in the series, where the elephant is in the background in shadow, with the shower enclosure and stove in the foreground. What is strange is there is a shadow on the bush directly behind the elephant, which almost exactly matches the shape of the elephant itself. The odd thing is that this shadow could not possibly have been cast by the elephant.

It really is quite peculiar — almost spooky — and I have no idea how it could have happened, except by pure coincidence. It certainly wasn't photoshopped.


Excellent photos! Mine would have been really shaky that close to such a huge beast.
LOL, my Panasonic has an EXTREMELY effective anti-shake feature!


Thanks for all the other kind comments too, guys, it was quite an experience.
 

DM51

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neat !

great presence of mind to be thinking of cpf while dancing with a wild elephant. :)
"Dancing with a wild elephant" - LOL !!!

Maybe I should change the title of the thread to that. (Subtitle: Rumba in the jungle?)

Anyway, I was careful not to let it get close enough for it to be able to tread on my feet.
 

adirondackdestroyer

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DM51,

Absolutely AMAZING pictures! I honestly would think someone was joking if they made comments on here about how much of a problem an Elephant can be. I love the pic of the CR2 Ion and the Elephant in the background, great idea.

I always thought that the black bears where I'm from are bad enough. I myself have never seen them in person but that is only because I'm not stupid. If you go camping at any large campsite in the Adirondacks and leave your Bear canister near your tent you can guarantee to see a couple.
I couldn't even imagine seeing a Elephant in real life (besides at the zoo).
Where are you from by the way?
Great story, great pics!
 
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