Elephants in Kruger

robertwsimpson · Sep 17, 2012

Herd at the Hole by robertwsimpson, on Flickr

Tackling bulls by robertwsimpson, on Flickr

Hope you enjoy, C&C is welcome.

globeglimpser · Oct 6, 2012

Ah Kruger, heaven on earth.

I like the group shot and I understand how difficult it can be to frame a herd of elephants without cutting off some member who wants to be difficult. The fact that they are all facing you either means you were patient or you were in the right place at the right time. May be the latter - they are approaching the hole.

The second shot shows an awesome encounter but was it not possible to drive to the left and get a full side on. Probably not, they move quickly and you are restricted to the roads in the Kruger...

Was it a cloudy day? That really killed the colour. Rich blue water and greener plants would have added more 'flavour'.

Anyway hope you enjoyed the trip and saw more than just elephants. In Kruger, they get boring after a while

robertwsimpson · Oct 8, 2012

thanks for the comments!

For these photos, we were actually situated in the Sable Dam hide. We sat for a while at dusk waiting for any action. Fortunately, we were blessed with all kinds of action! Unfortunately, it was very dark, which is why the contrast and colors are lacking. As you can see by the EXIF data for the first photo:

Exposure	0.003 sec (1/320)
Aperture	f/8.0
Focal Length	540 mm
ISO Speed	3200

it was dark, and I didn't have the gear to get one of those "eye stoppers." Also, since we were in a hide and not very close, I definitely didn't have the opportunity to move around and change the angle of the shots I was getting. I was actually just enjoying watching the scene, snapping a photo here and there, not thinking anything was going to turn out. I am happy that these are at least salvageable, considering the circumstances.

We definitely saw a lot more than just elephants, and you're right. After a while, we didn't even stop to look when we saw an elephant. We just kept driving. You can see some more on my flickr if you're interested. I'd love to hear if any of them "pop out" at you.

Thanks again for looking and commenting!