In Memory of Hapoor -- a famous elephant in South Africa

[Mike Buckley]

South Africa's Addo Elephant National Park has memorialized a famous elephant by naming an important water hole in honor of him. Hapoor was the dominant bull in the park for 24 years until 1968. That was when, as happens eventually to every bull, a younger and stronger bull banished him from the herd. (That explains why a large elephant seen very much alone in the bush is almost always a bull rather than a female.)

Later that year, Hapoor became the first elephant to get past the fence still used today built in the 1950s from tram rails and lift cables. He had a reputation for showing his hatred for humans, so officials decided to put Hapoor down soon after due to the danger he posed outside the park. His head is mounted in the park restaurant.

Visiting the Hapoor water hole is one of the top two or three travel experiences my wife and I have ever had. We were about to leave the water hole at 8:30am after seeing only a few wart hogs, when my wife noticed a small group of elephants approaching. We stayed until noon and during that time counted 142 elephants of all sizes and ages. We didn't see any of them leave the area. All of the photos shown below were captured that morning from the parking area at the Hapoor water hole.

My wife and I will review these and other photos from the water hole on the television tonight. We'll begin the slide show with a toast to Hapoor.


Photo #1



Photo #2: Here comes the cavalry!



Photo #3



Photo #4



Photo #5

[John 2]

What a brilliant set Mike. Great photography and wonderful memories. I enjoyed the story as well although it's sad that they had to put Hapoor down just as he had gained his freedom.

[Donald]

Superb, Mike. The last two, for me, just hit the bullseye. I think it's because you've given lots of space around them and we see the vastness of the landscape in which they live.

[Brownbear]

Beautiful as always. Sad to hear the story of Hapoor (:

The 1st and the last image are my favourites for the beauty of the elephants, sense of scale and surrounding environment. Perhaps #1 is my top choice.

[Downrigger]

These are really fine to look at and doing so is aided by the story you provide with them. There was some discussion of the place of B&W in contemporary photography on a post here recently and #3 (for me, especially) seems to make the point that there is one regardless of the difficulty posed by attempting to define it.
How nice you could be in such a special place.

[Mike Buckley]

Thank you, everyone!

Considering that Donald likes Photo #5 and that we all know his predilection for monochromes, this one is for him. I actually prefer it to the color version but initially posted the color version because most people seem to like them over monochromes.


Photo #6

[Brownbear]

It's also lovely in B&W... I think I prefer the colour versions simply because the scenery and colour is so beautiful and they fit my vision/dreams of African vistas...

[Mike Buckley]

While viewing the above photos on our television, I counted 37 elephants in Photos #5 and #6. To put in perspective that fact and that we counted 142 elephants that morning, there were only 16 elephants in the area when the national park was proclaimed in 1931.

There are now over 550 elephants in the park. In fact, the elephant population there is growing too fast because the ecosystem can't support such a large, rapidly growing herd. The national park's web site explains that plans are in place to increase the size of the area devoted to elephants by 50% but I have read in other places that the plan is to increase it much more. That doesn't include the park's plan to also increase the size of its marine reserve.

[FlyingSquirrel]

More awesome shots. Love em! Such beautiful creatures and landscapes. What a planet we live on

[Donald]

I actually prefer it to the color version but initially posted the color version because most people seem to like them over monochromes.

I think they make two very different images. It's a good example of making judgements based on how we 'see' the final image.

How would I describe the two images? I think the colour version is landscape picture with elephants in it. I think the B & W is a picture of elephants in their environment/landscape.

[Mike Buckley]

Thank you to Matt and Mark!

I think the colour version is landscape picture with elephants in it. I think the B & W is a picture of elephants in their environment/landscape.

Exactly the same for me.

I was explaining to my wife as I was capturing that photo and others like it that we had traveled to the other side of the world to see animals in the wild that we had never ever seen and to finally fulfill my wife's dreams about that on our 30th anniversary trip. Yet we had seen so many animals at this point in our trip that I was actually having the luxury of taking the time to photograph primarily the sky because it was so nice that the landscape was enhanced by the elephants. Yet when I got home and saw the possibility for the monochrome that, frankly, I hadn't thought of as I was capturing the image, the scene then became for me a photo of elephants enhanced by the sky.

[GrahamS]

Great shots, Mike. Bravo! They are the kind of images that you will look at again and again and see something new every time. In the 60's and 70's it was possible to trek through the Addo on horseback, camping overnight. We would often be accompanied by a ranger armed with an old WW2 .303 rifle with no ammo. There are no big cats in the Addo, so it was quite safe.

[Mike Buckley]

Thank you, Graham!

The park still offers horseback treks of varying lengths including an overnight ride. The rides are in an area of the park where big game rarely venture.

Regarding the big cats, lions were reintroduced into the park in 2003 (I'll show proof of that in my final, upcoming thread) as a measure for maintaining a balanced ecosystem. The park's web site explains that though leopards are seldom seen due to their secretive nature, they exist in most areas of the park. There is a plan to reintroduce cheetahs in the future.

[Mike Buckley]

a ranger armed with an old WW2 .303 rifle with no ammo.

That reminds me of a funny situation that we experienced on our first series of game drives in a different park. Our game drives in Madikwe Game Reserve were led by an armed guide with a gun that is powerful enough to take down an elephant. At one point our guide got out of the truck and spent about 15 minutes climbing a ridge trying (unsuccessfully) to find some wild dogs. He took with him the entire bolt mechanism from the gun to render it useless. Upon returning to the truck, he quipped that the reason he took it is that he didn't feel safe leaving a loaded, operating gun in the truck because of the American tourists on the ride. My wife and I, who were the only Americans, had a great chuckle.

[GrahamS]

Thank you, Graham!

The park still offers horseback treks of varying lengths including an overnight ride. The rides are in an area of the park where big game rarely venture.

Regarding the big cats, lions were reintroduced into the park in 2003 (I'll show proof of that in my final, upcoming thread) as a measure for maintaining a balanced ecosystem. The park's web site explains that though leopards are seldom seen due to their secretive nature, they exist in most areas of the park. There is a plan to reintroduce cheetahs in the future.

There goes the neighbourhood........

[Shadowman]

Very nice.