There are few things quite like watching hundreds of elephants wandering across an open landscape.
Big bulls, females, teenagers and youngsters, all going about their business. An extraordinary gathering of these magnificent animals, with the freedom to decide where they wanted to go and what they wanted to do.
And what did they do?
Walked about, ate, farted and occasionally went for a splash.
Elephant life, really.
We were fortunate to have a guide who understood the importance of giving them space. Not everyone was quite so sensible, and one safari jeep had a rather close encounter after getting a little too near.
But among all those enormous bodies moving across the grassland, my attention was caught by two youngsters tagging along.
The one in front was striding ahead, apparently with somewhere important to be.
The one behind had other ideas.
Its trunk reached forward, curled around the other’s tail, and suddenly all I could hear in my imagination was:
“Waaaaait for meeeee!”
I have no idea what was actually going through their heads, of course, but that’s what the moment looked like to me.
And that’s what I remember most vividly from a gathering of hundreds of elephants.
Not the biggest bull or the grandest spectacle, but two youngsters and a little trunk wrapped around a tail.
Sometimes the smallest moments tell the biggest stories.
Behind the Photograph · A Wilder Eye