A tri-toned tight profile photo the head of a wild African Savanna Elephant, Loxodonta africana. Photographed in Buffalo Springs National Reserve, part of the Samburu complex of reserves in northern Kenya.
Elephants are one of my favourite species. In fact on my last trip to Africa, one of my fellow-travellers said, “Haven’t you got enough photos of Elephants by now?” That question absolutely ‘did not compute’.
In my several trips to Samburu and Buffalo Springs, I probably saw elephants on almost all, maybe all, of my game drives, but worryingly I saw a TV programme more recently which showed that that is not at all the case nowadays.
In early 2021, the IUCN re-classified Savanna elephants as ‘Endangered’ in its new Red List of Threatened Species, a worrying move from ‘Vulnerable’ as it had been regarded previously. At the same time, the IUCN recognised Forest Elephants (mainly found in Central and West Africa) as a separate full species and classified them as “Critically Endangered”.
The original colour photo shows the orange colour which the rich red soil of the area gives to the elephants. It’s quite a surprise!
This photo is available for purchase as a stock photo from iStock, and as wall art (etc.) from Pixels.com.
Both versions of the photo are copyright © Liz Leyden. All rights strictly as agreed in writing with the author or her agent.
The main (tri-toned) photo of an African Savanna Elephant is for sale as wall art or as various home or personal accessories from Pixels.com.
