Photographic elephant safari - Day 3

This is my third day in Amboseli and I stayed inside the park from morning until late afternoon, taking only a short break for lunch back at camp. It was a hot and dusty day, and the haze never really lifted.

Elephants feeding in Amboseli

Before lunch we came across two of the park’s well-known tuskers, Wikstrom and Michael. Both elephants have long, heavy tusks that almost touches the ground.

Encounters like this are special to me and are the backbone of my portfolio of black and white elephant prints.

The main sighting of the day wasn't an elephant though. It was a female cheetah with four young cubs. The cubs played in the grass around her until she spotted a male Thomson’s gazelle and moved into hunting mode. She launched into a chase but the gazelle managed to get away. Even though she was unsuccessful, watching her hunt while the cubs waited nearby was a strong reminder of how much pressure rests on a mother in the wild.

The dust was everywhere today, sometimes limiting visibility and settling on everything. It was a tough day with all the dust, yet it added a raw quality to the whole experience and creates special conditions which can be great for wildlife photography.