Elephants

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To say that Elephants love water is a great understatement; in the wild on a hot, dry summer day nothing beats seeing the final dusty rush to a waterhole, the first flushing out of the trunk before that thirst quenching draught of cool water. If ever pure joy is to be expressed by a wild animal it has to be an Elephant having a mud bath, the frenzied noise of splashing water, splattering mud, rumbles and squeals is truly a great experience to witness and be part of.



After the chaos; a calming silence and a time to relax. I had to zoom in for this portrait as my attention was drawn to the connection made with the small eye calmly looking straight at me which compliments the warm feeling I get from the overall image.



C&C welcomed

[ucci]

Great work. Hard to pick a favourite. #1 is a great action shot. But I think by a whisker #2 is my pick. Maybe I would have liked it to have been cropped a little less to give a bit more frame down the LHS. The tusk tip is perhaps a little too close to the edge of the frame. But this is a personal opinion. One other thing. I have to assume that they were friendly and so you survived to post these great pix! How did you go getting 'model releases' signed?

[WJT]

Clive, they are both good shots but the portrait is exceptional. Wonderful composition and detail. Are there any more?

[Donald]

With this I feel you have really hit the bulls-eye. That, I think, is a superb image.

You've been making me study (which is always a good thing) and I've been reading about Chobe. Do you live close to the park?

I get the sense that it is different from the Kenyan parks in that there are not quite the same convoys of tourist safari vehicles charging about the place disturbing the animals. You get the feeling that the national park authority is working hard and managing the park and the people who visit.

[jprzybyla]

I am jealous Clive. Wonderful images. The first shows the action you describe and the second tranquility.

[JPS]

Hi Clive,
My first thought when I see your work is that you are so lucky to live in an area where you can capture such great shots. But after thinking about that statement, I was incorrect; living where you do gives you opportunities to capture great shots, but it takes both knowledge of the subject and skill of the Photographer to capture such fantastic pictures.

These are both fantastic picture and I bow to you skill and experience.
Well done.

[redrew]

Clive, having the opportunity to photograph such large majestic animals in the wild, places my bird photography in the ho hum category. Keep them coming I love them.

Rollin E. Drew

[ggt]

So jealous!!!!

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Many thanks to all for the kind comments.

Hi Ken, it had to be a close crop as there were other elephants surrounding this one, that pulled attention away from my subject.

Hi Wayne, I have a few more that need a bit of work.

Hi Donald, we live in Gaborone about a 10 hour drive from the Chobe River. We try to get up there twice a year (work and finances permitting). "Chobe elephants" are well known for their relaxed behaviour, but the interaction depends on the human not being stupid and pushing boundaries. We spend all day in the park and tend to keep clear of the tourist areas, tourist game drives are only at specific times and restricted to the better game viewing sites. Sometimes there can be a lot of traffic but the Parks are starting to restrict the amount of vehicles allowed into the more sensitive areas of the park.

Hi John, we are very fortunate to have the opportunity to live where we do. When we go to the bush we spend all day driving around, sitting for hours looking at nothing and waiting for things to happen. A 10 hour day might give very limited opportunities, the last time we saw a leopard the whole experience lasted about thirty seconds, and that was just about all we saw the whole day.

Hi Rollin, during a trip that we did last year we saw lion, elephant, cheetah etc but the highlight of the trip was seeing a Whitefaced Owl feeding on a mouse it had just caught, although viewed using torches it was such a rare sighting it blew us away. It's all relative to the moment, I have lots of pictures of sleeping lions but not one decent picture of an owl.

Hi Joe and Gretchen, I'm very fortunate. Sometimes when I go the the Kalahari Desert on a trip I end up photographing Ground Squirrles for three days so even the small animals count.

[JACKSNIPE]

Hi Clive,like your second image,nice comp,well done.

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Hi Chris, many thanks for the comment.

[Ken Curtis]

Exceptional work! Love what you did and would not change anything.

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Hi Ken, many thanks for the feedback.

[jeeperman]

Nicely done Clive. That second one is spot on, love it.

[Bobobird]

Great shots Clive. Like them both.

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Hi Paul, Bobo.
Many thanks for the comments.