Last day in Manyara National Park in Tanzania, Late afternoon, and the elephant moms with newborn calves were starting to get out of Lake Manyara, where they’ve been feeding on water lilies. It was time to dry out and head back to their territory.
I’d been trying for a shot of mom and baby communicating; constantly keeping physical contact and vocalizing below human ear audible frequencies.
Too far away to catch any of the the subtle communication gestures, I thought at least I would be able to capture some quiet or intimate moment between the mom and the calf.
The mom started walking towards the sunnier side of the lake where other nursing elephants had gathered, and were having their daily gossip session. Mom was in a hurry to catch up with the events of the day, with baby trying to keep up and stay close to her.
As they neared the crowed, the mom paused for few seconds, raised her trunk all the way up and pointed towards the crowed, sniffing the air to detect any of her relatives in the crowd.
The baby stood near her mom, on standby, waiting patiently to take the next step. It was clear that the newborn had a long day and was tired. When she lowered her head, I knew that was my best chance to get a shot worth showing it to anyone. I’m glad I did take the shot, otherwise I would have never known if I had missed it or not.