Twisted Elephant
Hello out there,
Experiencing an animal in its natural habit is really amazing. I was astonished that they are not scaring away and you can observe them from a close distance.
Actually, I was expecting the opposite and thought quite skeptical about doing a safari during a trip through South Africa. I imagined that it would be very hard to spot an animal in between the bushes and in the end you might be just driving around the whole day without seeing any wildlife. But I guess this photograph more than anything else proves how wrong I was. After driving into Addo Elephant Park near Port Elisabeth it took only just about 15mins until a herd of elephants crossed the dirt road right in front of us. It was quite an oppressive feeling watching these giants walking by just meters in front of our car.
Of course, we stopped an kept observing them as they headed to a puddle next to the road. After a couple of minutes, I got my camera and started shooting some pictures of the whole group. But as I zoomed closer in, I got really interested in the skin and the facial expression of the elephant. They seemed to perfectly represent the dignity of these animals. As you can imagine capturing a close portrait of an elephant always has the drawback of cutting the trunk. Well, you cannot believe how happy I was when the elephant suddenly twisted his trunk around one tusk and I got the perfect shot.