Sunset Elephant

Following our night in the delta, we returned to dry land and drove to Nata and 'Elephant Sands' - or 'Elephant central' as another tourist characterised it.  This lodge and its chalets is built on a reserve and the key feature was once a natural waterhole. Now it's a sort of artificial trough which is regularly replenished with water).  Guess where the elephants congregated...

These were definitely wild elephants that wandered in and out and around the site.  Photographically speaking however, the chalets which surrounded the waterhole (at a safe distance!) made getting a clear shot very difficult, so I zoomed in on for some detailed shots instead. 

As luck would have it, we were staying (glamping!) in a new development of the site which was some 10 kilometers from the main lodge.  We transferred in an open sided safari type vehicle  when we came across this magnificent elephant.  Needless to say, the only camera I had to hand was my phone (my dslr was stowed away and had the wrong lens on it anyway) and there was no telling how long the elephant would hang around for. He did stand still and watch us for a few minutes, long enough for me to get one or two photos with level horizons.  (He looks distinctly drunk in some of them!)  

This is the #4 edit - I know it looks a bit HDR on a screen but I want to be able to print this picture and the first test prints which came back are too dark to be effective.  

The extras shows some more of the delta and one of the zoomed in shots at the waterhole.