Elephant photos by Yvonne van der Mey

I will never forget the first close sighting of an African Elephant. Eventhough we've had a lot of experience with Asian Elephants, this was something different. A breathtaking experience and hard to believe that they are so big. Because of all the training we've had, we've learned a lot about their body language and behaviour, and our dedication and admiration has grown with every visit. It has often helped us to stay out of trouble, eventhough I must admit that quite a few young bulls have managed to scare us a lot with their mock charges. Many times we've been privileged to witness the family life of elephants closeby, when our presence was clearly accepted by the matriarchs (oldest female and leader of the herd). These meetings have convinced us even more about what a special animal an elephant is.

These are some of the photographs I've taken of elephants. Most of these photo's were taken in the Kruger National Park in South Africa, and you can read a little story about the elephant herds, matriarchs, bulls and babies on the some of the pop-up pages. Please click on a thumbnail picture below to see a larger version of the photo (please note that your Internet browser must allow pop-up pages and javascript). For ease of use, there is also a numbered link on the pop-up page, so that you can go from one photo to the next.

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