Travel – Page 8 – ABOUT ELEPHANTS

Africa, Elephants, Nature, Photography, Travel

A Moment Caught, Then Left Behind

Posted on June 19, 2015 by Cheryl Merrill

Photographs are moments caught, then left behind. In this photograph, at that moment, there’s so much going on. An elephant strolls by, eating a branch from a thorn bush while he wraps a stalk of grass in his trunk. Do you see his broad toenail, his scalloped ear with its large veins? Do you see the small round pebble on the top of his head, the flecks of leaves cascading down his forehead to his trunk? Do you notice the perfect fan palm in the background, the outline of a nipple upon his chest? Or is your attention focused solely on his gleaming white tusks and your furiously beating heart?

Africa, Elephants, Nature, Photography, Travel

Face to Face with Your Daily Elephant

Posted on June 18, 2015 by Cheryl Merrill

An eye tucked behind a massive trunk. A body as tall as trees.

Africa, Elephants, Nature, Photography, Travel

Your Daily Elephant: Eyelashes

Posted on June 17, 2015 by Cheryl Merrill

Each of the more than 200 lashes around my eye is shed every three to five months on average. Has anyone ever done research on the shed rate of elephant eyelashes?

I could. Or I could watch the sunlight on his five-inch eyelashes forever.

Africa, Elephants, Nature, Photography, Travel

Hello, I’m Back: Your Daily Elephant Resumes

Posted on June 16, 2015 by Cheryl Merrill

Elephant trunk and fan palm. Elephants raise their trunks to sample the air or, like this elephant, wave hello.

Africa, Elephants, Nature, Photography, Travel

An Elephant’s Eye: Your Daily Elephant

Posted on June 10, 2015 by Cheryl Merrill

While I’m out of town for a few days this gentle eye will watch over you.

Africa, Elephants, Extinction, Nature, Photography, Travel

Ivory: Your Daily Elephant’s Tusk

Posted on June 9, 2015 by Cheryl Merrill

Tanzania has lost 60% of its elephant population in five years. All because of this, an elephant’s incisor, which looks far more beautiful on an elephant than carved into trinkets.

Africa, Elephants, Nature, Photography, Travel

Your Daily Elephant: Not Pleased with Us

Posted on June 8, 2015 by Cheryl Merrill

In the early morning light, on safari in the Linyanti area of Botswana, we disturbed an older bull at his breakfast. He’s moving toward us, not pleased but not totally threatening; we’re moving away. Even with everything in motion, there’s this shot.

Africa, Elephants, Nature, Photography, Travel

Your Daily Elephant: Mud in her Ear

Posted on June 7, 2015 by Cheryl Merrill

Plus a small pebble on top of her head. She’s at a mineral lick in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe, home to the Presidential Elephants. There are eight elephants in this picture; they fill the entire background. What looks like a small bite is gone from her ear. Elephants often have ragged edges on their ears, torn by branches and thorns.