Elephants
Can we just stop the world for a hot minute and talk about baby elephants? They are seriously the sweetest, funniest and dorkiest little animals and this girl for one couldn't get enough of them. Little pink eyes... and translucent ears... and both absolute wonder and concern about their new world around them.
It was such a treat to have the photography guides at both Zimanga and Pangolin put us into position via jeep or boat and gave us photography tips day after day just so we could get an ellie fix.
This seasons babies were so little they have no idea how to suck water with their trunks, but rather sat in the water and guzzled it by the mouthful. Trunk sucking attempts were often more blowing than sucking - very funny to see!
The super hot and humid weather ensured we saw lots of interaction on the river banks with them. One of the biggest pleasures was watching, learning and even engaging with their behaviour - I hope i never lose the ability to laugh out loud at them running down the hill and trumpeting at the sight of the river.
Chobe River splashdown - check out the tear in his ear - who knows what story is there?
Look at this dear little baby, so young he still had an umbilicus. The fresh pink skin and clear eyes and the tender care his mother and aunties gave him was adorable. I dont think he'd even been near the water before either.
Lets just stop for a minute and look at these adorable little ears! Oh my... I wanted to focus solely on him so i quickly switched off the continuous auto focus and moved to F2.8 with manual focus ring - it allowed me to be sure the camera was grabbing just him and not mum's legs.
Baby elephants and water - what a combo! The 35C searing sun meant they needed cooling off as much as us. It was clear they just wanted to immerse themselves entirely in the delicious coolness rather than the more elegant water trunk spray of their elders.
Once they got a little confident they found their siblings and started to play some shenanigans , climbing over and bumping into each other.
I would have liked to have been cooling my feet off over the edge of the boat but didn't fancy the nearby crocs chomping on them and leaving me footless.
Look for the little one that found himself a little too deep and got scared, so mum wrapped her tail lovingly over him for reassurance.
Trunkology - they really are like an extra limb, sniffling, searching, checking, spraying.
I had to laugh. This gentle Bull Elephant was practising his best 'mock feeding' -whilst just sidling up to us to get a closer look.
In the video below he edges his way closer and closer. I wasnt nervous, I probably should have been but I knew his energy was calm and inquisitive, and that he was clever enough to know my laughter was joy not fear.
What are you looking at ?