Living with the Elephants
Bob and Pat Fairbanks
Bairdstravel would like to thank Bob and Pat Fairbanks for sending us their
photographs and their tales from their African adventures. Below is an insightinto their time living with elephants. Here is Pat and Bobs safari
How many people get to live with elephants?
We spent six days with nine elephants in Botswana's Okavango Delta. This was the final week of our long African safari : actually five different safaris in six countries in Africa. We were part of a group of 136 photographers . Other than seeing the animals in their natural habitats, our goal was to take photographs that would appear in a beautiful coffee table book called 'Focus on Africa' which was published in 1994.
(We've already signed up for another Focus on Africa photo safari adventure scheduled for 2003, ten years after the first one.)
The six weeks that Pat and I were on safari add up to the most exciting and most memorable vacation we have ever taken. And the final week, riding elephants at Abu's Camp in Botswana , stands out as the single most memorable week of them all.
We quickly learned how to get aboard these magnificent animals. One foot on a knee, the other on a board, and up we go. Two of us would usually ride together. We didn't realize how luxurious this was. When we were in India a few years later, four of us rode an elephant, and the Indian elephants are much smaller than their African cousins
It didn't take much walking with the elephants to get acquainted and become very comfortable with each other.
A big advantage to being with the elephants, either riding on top or walking among them, is that the wildlife isn't disturbed. It was amazing how close we could get to these impalas and other animals before they really noticed us.
Randall Moore, a former elephant trainer from Portland, Oregon , brought these three pachyderms home to Africa from various circuses and zoos in America.
Giraffes need a lot of food. An adult can eat up to 140 pounds of leaves and twigs every day.
There's so much water in the delta that the mokoros really come in handy.
An afternoon rain somewhere nearby.
This photo was taken by David Anderson who arranged all the safaris that took place over four months in 1993. He also co-authored the resulting book, 'Focus on Africa: Wildlife, Conservation, and Man'.
Heading home
Botswana sunset
Botswana sunrise
We saw more sunrises than usual this week since we started the day quite early, about 6am with an elephant ride to see most of the animals while they're still up and around. Most game drives are early morning and late afternoon.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------