Zooman 1

thought I would share this. This was at Zulunyala in South Africa. Our driver has somehow gotten us between two adult female elephants and the teenage daughter of one. The younger elephant for some reason started screaming, which set her mother off and she started to charge the vehicle. The driver went in reverse until we reached an intersection which he turned down, which left me in the backseat, closest to the still charging upset elephant mom. I took this with the Tamron 18-400mm at 77mm!

DougS Loc: Central Arkansas

Wow! Exciting, and scary, but what a photo opportunity... Good shot.

JD750 Loc: SoCal

Everyone knows you never get between a mother and her children, no matter what species. That is just common sense. So you harassed those elephants for a photo op? I’m not impressed.

John Maher Loc: Northern Virginia

The guide should lose his license as he should be smarter than his dumb client. Both are candidates for the Darwin Award.

When a photographer gets too close and escapes, that's a great shot!

When he does not escape, the animal is identified and euthanized.

Photographers should sign a waiver accepting responsibility. Then the number of irresponsible photographers will dwindle through attrition.

JD750 Loc: SoCal

Your actions endangered the Elephants for the reasons stated above by John. You were the customer in charge, yet you imply what happened was everybody else’s fault. Your comment above is childish, and you try to introduce politics to divert the topic away from yourself. I’m still not impressed.

Retired CPO Loc: Travel full time in an RV

I don't know if you have ever been on a African Photo Safari. It sounds like you have not. The customer is NOT in charge. The driver/guide is. And his liscense is on the line every day. It would be very easy for the situation to evolve just like the Op described. Elephants can appear and disappear in the bush like ghosts and when they appear out of the bush close to a vehicle, THEY are in charge. Believe me, I didn't appreciate the cheap shot at PRESIDENT Trump, but I have no doubt that this scenario could have been exactly as presented.

rlv567 Loc: Baguio City, Philippines

Exactly!!!!!!!

ronichas Loc: Long Island

The driver/guides are paid tips, some customers do want to tell them where to go. The guides will do what the customer requests if he knows he will get a huge tip.

I was in Kenya in July, my 3rd trip to Africa. Our guide/driver is well known in Maasai Mara. We constantly saw other drivers getting to close to the animals, following them to closely. We had an off road pass, we were with 5 cheetah brothers on a kill. The other trucks surrounded the one who had the kill, the other 4 couldn't see the one with the kill. We moved so they could see & get to the one with the kill.

So many are NOT respectful of the animals, so many get way to close to the animals.

This is an example. These 2 trucks, blocked the elephants when they were trying to cross the river. The elephants were not happy, trumpeting, and trying to find a safe place to come on the land. These trucks should have moved when they saw the herd getting close. They did not.

dave.m

Something similar happened to my wife and me on a photo safari in S Africa. With 4 others, we were watching lions at a kill at night from a good distance. There were leopards scattered about waiting their turn. Then 3 large adult lions stepped out of the bush adjacent to us, one flopped in front of the vehicle, another UNDER the rear seat overhanging the back where I was sat!! We were effectivey boxed in. The bush was overgrown and lush and right up to the track and there was no way we saw or heard them approach. Our tracker was sitting on a 'jump' seat attached to the bonnet of the land rover and I guess his feet were no more than a couple of yards from one, and my backside less than that from another (fortunaltely I had the steel frame of the seat between me and the lion. Photo is one in front, very well fed as you can see

Having been well briefed by our guide each time we went out, we all sat very still and quiet until they moved onto the kill.

And yes, the guide made the rules (not guidance) very clear, and he was definitely in charge.

ronichas Loc: Long Island

I have been to Tanzania, Namibia and Kenya. All three do not allow guests out after sundown or before sunrise. It is not safe, as many of the animals do hunt and eat at night. In Kenya, we each paid $100 to get an off road pass, if found off road without one, there is a large fine.
I have not been to S. Africa.

Piltdown1952

I think you are blaming the photographer when you should be blaming the driver/guide. It was a very stupid move. I had drivers get us very close to elephants and lions in the Maasi Mara in Kenya but they knew what they were doing.

dave.m

I'm not sure of the specific rules in S. Africa. We were on a privater reserve at Sabi Sands right on the edge of Kruger National Park. While the land was privately owned and restricted to reserve vehicles there were no fences and animals wandered freely everywhere. An amazing experience which meant we had armed guards escort us to and from the cabins to the lodge for meals in the evening.

Most of our trips were just after dawn or before dusk as at that time the animals were most active in our location. We were fortunate our guide was a particularly keen conservationist and was particularly careful not ro do anything that would stress the animals (or the customers!)

As you mention only a limited number of off road passes were available which our vehicle / guide / tracker had. They also carried some very heavy duty firearms just in case, but I never saw them reach for them at any time.

In KNP which we went into a few times, rangers were checking any private vehicles for correct passes and weapons. I guess they knew which of the local safari vehicles were properly licensed.

Robertl594 Loc: Bloomfield Hills, Michigan and Nantucket

Thank you for bringing politics and hateful nasty comments into this forum. I get enough of this daily from other social media and news outlets. I don’t need it here. This should be a place of support for photographers, not a forum for nasty quips. I have noticed condescending comments from a handful of people before. Please stop and think before you lash out at someone. You are not superior and there is no reason to belittle anyone here.

I have been on safaris before. The guide is the one who knows better than and is responsible for the well being and safety of the passengers and the animals. It is the guide who is to blame in this instance. I doubt that the photographer goaded the guide to get between them. Any guide worth anything knows better, where the animals are and can anticipate what is likely to happen.
Rant over.

ronichas Loc: Long Island

I completely agree. I did find in the Maasai Mara, there were some some drivers that just were not respectful of the animals. When you get a line up of trucks all going to the same location, it becomes a challenge to get close. We left in those situations.

MadMikeOne Loc: So. NJ Shore - a bit west of Atlantic City

Roni, I agree completely. When we were at Chobe on an AM game drive, there was a sighting of a leopard in a tree supposedly with a kill. There had to be 18 vehicles racing to the scene and dangerously jockeying for position. Our driver decided to drive partly INTO the Chobe River to get closer. I was on the side of the vehicle that had actually tilted into the river. My feet actually got wet! NONE of us in that vehicle wanted the leopard to be harassed in this way. Someone in our jeep finally shouted to our driver that if he expected a tip, he!d better get the heck out of there and fast. He finally did. Absolutely disgusting behavior on the part of not only our driver, but all the others as well.