Learning to Play

This portrait was taken in Kruger National Park, South Africa, while I was working through my CATHSSETA NQF2 field guiding qualification. One of my peers on the course was driving while I shot from the back - this time at a waterhole, where a young elephant calf had decided that the serious business of drinking was far less interesting than the serious business of splashing about. Calves like this one are still working out what their trunks are actually for, and watching one mid-flail, water flying, while an adult stands nearby with what can only be described as patient resignation, is one of the more joyful things you can witness on safari.

There's a playfulness to elephant calves that never quite gets old, no matter how many times you see it, and this felt like exactly the kind of moment that reminds you these are intelligent, emotional animals having something close to a genuinely good time.