I looked up in awe.
There he stood, tall and majestic, unconcerned about all us puny beings scattered around him. His gigantic long tusks tore at the shrub as his trunk rummaged in it for the tastiest bits before shoving large chunks into his mouth.
What an incredible beast, an elephant is. What an even more incredible beast, Craig, the super tusker is. If an elephant's tusks weigh 45kgs or more, it qualifies to be a super tusker.
“ Craig has been seen… not far from the park”
This was the message that we got as we were nearing Amboseli earlier that afternoon. That made the plans for our game drive that evening very clear.
Usually, a game drive will mean that we will be roaming around the park looking for interesting subjects, checking out the dry lake bed if we can catch some elephant herds returning, seeing if we can find an interesting subject to frame against those spectacular sunsets that Africa throw up with such consistency.
Today we will be doing nothing of that. Today will be devoted to Craig.
And, here we were.
The most important thing is to have a really outstanding tracker with you. One, who knows your subject’s behavior, and presumably who Craig knows well, can predict the path it might take and also understands photography to the extent that he helps to position you right for the perfect shot.
We had the perfect guy with us.
I am told that he has spent decades tracking Craig. He is supposed to have a very close understanding of Craig’s behavior and in determining how much time we need to be around him before getting even closer. Possibly Craig too knows him, trusts him.
Last year, he had shepherded us around Craig, telling us where to lie down on the ground, when to get back into the vehicle, driving us around to where he believed Craig will come to, also telling us what we definitely should not be doing.
Yeahh…we were definitely in good hands.
Right now, we were pretty close to Craig but the location was not ideal. There were too many shrubs, tall grass around. Getting a nice clean shot would be rather difficult.
I stayed there watching Craig and thinking about our previous meeting.
Last year, I had got a memorable frame of Craig as he had walked past where I was lying flat on the ground and at one point when he totally filled up the frame, I looked up and saw this enormous, magnificent creature walk softly past, just 4-5 feet away. It’s in such moments you realize how incredibly blessed you are to experience such moments.
Circa 2023. I loved the way he walked past, this giant, walking so softly that you couldn't hear a thing
Today though, such feelings of awe and wonder were a little difficult to conjure up.
There were a couple of vehicles around and the rest of the crowd were tourists. They were, of course, excited to have seen Craig but were now busy posing for first, selfies and then, getting their guides or drivers to take shots of them singly and with the group, with Craig in the background. Posing prettily turning this way and that. In the wild.
Yeah, it was all mildly irritating.
But the thing with tourists is that these are boxes to be ticked. We knew that it was a matter of time before they rush in search of the next box. ( Oh man, I am sounding so condescending and superior right now, am I not !!! ). And they did just that. Move away.
Now we were the only small group remaining amidst a lot of shrubs and bushes, with a relatively cloudless sky in front of us and Craig munching in deep contentment.
And then it appeared that Craig was getting bored of this specific shrub.
“ Move ! Move !! Come here…come wait here…there is a flat patch through which he will walk through, lie down here!”
After experiencing the moment, last year, when Craig had filled up my frame, this year I had brought along an even wider lens in the hope that he might get as close and I can get a truly impressive image. I was also planning to focus and shoot using the Live View monitor instead of peering through the eyepiece of the camera. That takes a little bit of getting used to, but I had spent some time trying to get familiar with that process. Putting the camera on the ground, a wide lens with Craig towering above….phew.
As the tracker had predicted, Craig passed by, and just like last year, there was that moment when Craig, midstride, appeared to turn around to look at us spread like confetti on the ground. What made this year’s look even more powerful was that he flared up his ears as he turned his head towards us.
Wow.
So, these moments don’t happen straightaway. We sit down or lie down at a place the tracker points out. Craig might take an ever so slightly different route or the background is still not great. So we get into the vehicle and drive across to another point the tracker has identified.
Rinse. Repeat.
Well...he took a slightly different route. Not the image I was looking for. Get up, get to another spot.
Phew. What magnificence...imagine being a few feet away from this awesomeness
A little later, Craig was munching ( these guys really eat a lot ! ) on another shrub and I noticed something that I found very heartwarming.
Our tracker had moved a little closer to Craig and was talking to him. He was gazing up at Craig, his tone was quiet, calm and soothing. I don’t know if he really manages to communicate anything or if it makes any difference, but I found that act of actually engaging in a verbal communication extremely touching. I like to believe that there is some communication, but well, that could just be me being romantic.
We moved multiple times as Craig kept searching for better food sources. Our tracker asked each of us to wait at a particular point and a little later Craig came closer to the bushes in front of us.
A few minutes of munching and he stepped a little closer. A few minutes later, a little closer. He is standing just in front of me just a few feet away. Closer than last time. I flicked a nervous glance at the tracker and silently mouthed the question – Do I move ? He smiled and gestured, stay put.
I was on my knees, camera on the ground, focusing and shooting. His trunk reached out to pluck food from my right first and then from the left.
Did he actually take another step closer ???
Gulp.
Kneeling on the ground, wide angle lens, camera placed on the ground, focusing thru the display...
this was exactly what I was hoping for !
Those tusks ...!
Did he actually come another step closer ???
Fifteen minutes or so later, we were driving back to camp. The sun had set, there was a cool breeze blowing and I stared into the openness feeling rather overwhelmed. I have had the tremendous fortune of being at such unbelievable proximity to a gentle giant, not once but twice in my life. It’s a powerful feeling to see it go minding its own business, ignoring us, living the life it was meant to, on the land that belonged to him as much as it did to us. However, along with that deep, immense feeling of gratitude was a worrying thought.
In the last 12 months or so, at least five super tuskers have been killed in Tanzania. Many of Amboseli’s super tuskers roam over into Tanzania too and Tanzania allows trophy hunting.
What joy, what happiness any person can derive from shooting these defenseless giants is beyond me.
How much time do Craig and the other super tuskers have before our cruelty, our selfishness will wipe them out ?
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Amazing images of this gentle giant. I hope, sense prevails and these super tuskers are protected.