Gentle Giants of Africa

Many people come to an African destination in order to tick off the iconic “Big 5” species while conducting a safari experience. Out of all the species in the Big 5, I myself recon that the elephant is far by the most iconic species. I can honestly say that I could spend hours sitting amongst a breeding herd of African Elephant and be just as excited as a guest’s first time visit and seeing elephants while on safari. Such clever, knowledgeable creatures occupying a pristine habitat within the Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve are really gentle giants.

In this particular sighting of an easy six-ton bull elephant, my guests and I witnessed a large breeding herd that had allowed a fully-grown bull to enter that was in musth. This male was particularly relaxed with each member of the herd and was seen trying to make his way closer to a female which was in oestrus without causing any stress to other females as well as calves that were part of this herd. An extremely stunning sighting that I’m sure will be remembered by those that witnessed it for many years to come.

Equipment Used

• Camera – Canon 600D
• Lens and Focal length – Canon-EF100-400mm f-4.5-5.6 L IS USM at 290mm

Settings used to capture this image

• ISO – 100
• Aperture – f 8
• Shutter – 1/1250

Editing used on this image

For such image, creating a black and white image is quite applicable. To get the contrast of various shades using the sunlight as well as the texture of the animals hide, the contours of the surface area of the animal and the surrounding vegetation, increasing of highlights, lowering of whites, increasing of shadows and adding a little clarity to such image was used to get to the editing required.