Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2010/12/19
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]On 19 Dec 2010, at 3:30 AM, lug-request at leica-users.org wrote: > Date: Sun, 19 Dec 2010 08:36:42 +0530 > From: Jayanand Govindaraj <jayanand at gmail.com> > Subject: [Leica] Yala - Elephants > To: Leica Users Group <lug at leica-users.org> > > The elephants at Yala are quite extraordinary, they just burst upon > you from > the surrounding vegetation, making for very close encounters, which > at times > can be quite stressful - because if there is one animal in our > jungles whose > behaviour I don't quite trust, it is the wild elephant. In fact the > closest > encounter in this trip was when a full grown cow elephant came and > stood > right behind the jeep in a defensive posture, so that her young > calves could > cross the road behind her. She was so close (about 5 feet from me, > adjacent > to the vehicle) that I did not dare take photographs for fear it > might spook > her! Jayanand, You needed a little GF 1 (like I used for tigers when they were too near for the long teles when we were in India) to get the close up grab shots!! A Hong Kong friend of mine taught engineering in Ceylon many years ago and he doesn't trust elephants either. He was visiting a tea plantation one time and the guests were sitting out on the lawn. An elephant walked up on the lawn, the tea planter got up to shoo it away. The elephant picked up the planter and flipped him over and pounded his body into the ground - in front of the startled guests - until he was dead, threw the body down and trundled away. Basis this story you were right to be wary. The pictures are very good and you have luck getting Moms and off spring together. Well done, Cheers Howard