Posts in Category: elephant
Elephant on water
African Elephant: Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda, August 2022 — Still on our way from the Northern sector of QENP to the Ishasha sector, we came upon a small herd of Elephants making their way across a wetland below the road, grazing as they went. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
So that’s what a tusk is for!
This Elephant has been right here in this little bay on the Kasinga Channel in Queen Elizabeth National Park in Uganda on both my visits, in 2018 and again this year. Do you suppose it has moved? I like the way the trunk is casually looped over the tusk. There are any really huge tusks in Uganda, do to a spotted history of exploitation, but one’s tusks are substantial. Good to see them being put to work 🙂 Sony Rx10iv at 123mm equivalent (we were close!). Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f4 @ 1/400th.
Elephant over hippos
You see lots of wildlife from a boat on the Kasinga Channel in Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda…but of course mostly hippos…a few of anything else. Sometimes you see hippos and something else 🙂 Sony Rx10iv at 310mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f4 @ 1/1000th.
Elephant edition: One last early encounter
One last shot from our early morning encounter with this lone bull elephant at Murchison Falls National Park in Uganda. The close up as he emerged from the brush. Sony Rx10iv still only at 424mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 2000 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Elephant edition: early encounter 3
African Elephant: Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda, August 2022 — I have already shared two images of this solitary bull elephant that we encountered early on our final morning in Murchison Falls National Park. After about 5 minutes of our sitting in the Land Cruiser watching him eat, he got tired of our attention, and turned to move us on. Not quite a mock charge, but he was definitely headed our way, so, of course, our guide let out the clutch and we were off. Sony Rx10iv at 97mm equivalent (we were close!). Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 200 @ f3.5 @ 1/200th.
Elephant Edition: Early encounter 2
African Elephant: Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda, August 2022 — Another shot from our early morning elephant encounter, on our last morning in Murchison Falls National Park. A well grown male posing for us as it plucked leaves from an acacia tree. Uganda’s elephants do not tend to have the huge tusks you see in Kenya (for instance), but the herds are still recovering from the days of Idi Amin when his soldiers slaughtered many thousands for their tusks. After Amin’s overthrow, even more elephants were killed by both sides for food and profit. It has been a hard road back for Ugandan elephants. Sony Rx10iv at 91mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 640 @ f3.5 @ 1/200th.
Elephant Edition: early encounter
African Elephant: Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda, August 2022 — We were on our way early on the day we moved from Murchison Falls National Park to Kibale, since it would be our longest day on the road. Still we had the safari top up. We did not want to miss our last views of Murchison and its unique habitat and wildlife. We were not yet far from the lodge when we encounter this lone bull elephant feeding at its full reach from the lower branches of a big acacia tree. Lone bulls are likely to be older bulls ejected from the herd by younger rivals, but this one, from the size of the tusks, might be a young bull speaking greener pastures between herds. It was a great encounter and I have more photos to share. Sony Rx10iv at 32mm equivalent. (Gotta love the Sony’s 24-600mm zoom which makes a range of views available with a twist. In this situation I would have hated to be “stuck” with long wildlife lens on a conventional camera.) Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 200 @ f2.8 @ 1/500th.
Elephant edition: Two more.
African Elephant, Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda, August 2022 — A couple of other sots of the most cooperative, and most photogenic, of the elephants we encountered on our way back to the lodge from the Nile River Murchison Falls tour boat. You might think the Piapiac birds riding the elephant are like Oxpeckers…but they are quite different. Oxpeckers do not ride elephants because the elephant’s hide is too thick to host ticks…and too thick for the Oxpeckers to open wounds to attract other insects…which they do, for instance, on the tender hides of giraffes. The Piapiacs are strictly hunting from the handy perch of the elephant’s back…and are aided by the fact that the elephant moving through the grass stirs up a lot of insects. It is an opportunistic relationship as opposed to the symbiotic (or parasitic in the case of the giraffes) relationship of the Oxpeckers. 🙂 Sony Rx10iv at 351mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 1600 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Elephant Edition: Catching a ride
African Elephant: Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda, August 2022 — We came up on a second small herd of Elephants moving parallel to the road on our way back to the lodge from the boat tour on Nile in Murchison Falls National Park. A whole flock of Piapiacs were catching a ride and hunting insects put up by the elephants. Sony Rx10iv at 351mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 1600 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Elephant edition: Our first!
We came across our first elephants along the banks of the Nile where the Albert and Victoria Niles join in Murchison Falls National Park. Elephants are still recovering after the Ugandan herds were decimated under Idi Amin…so you do not see the mass groups common in other East and South African countries. Ugandan elephants are still seen mostly in small groups of 6 to 12, including males, females and young. There seem to be a significant number of old bachelor males who are not attached to family groups…but that could just be my impression. This was a family of three, with one youngster…though there may have been more elephants back further in the brush waiting for us to pass. Sony Rx10iv at 74 and 100mm equivalents (they are big animals and we were quite close). Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f4 @ 1/500th.