Would love to hear your stories. Looking forward from Yas
On a visit to Bempton, walking away from the actual cliff edge round long grass and rough pasture when a Short-eared owl rose up from the grass right in front of us! It must have been only about five feet away from us. Gave a cry flew towards the cliffs and settled in some tussocky heathery greenery and simply disappeared! We knew exactly where it had landed but it was totally invisible. a really magnificent sight and still remember it clearly to this day. So exciting an experience.
Birds for ever!
This is a more esoteric/exotic tale. We were in a jeep in the Ruaha National Park in Tanzania a couple of years ago and came a cross a group of young bull elephants so stopped to watch them. Little did we realise that we were right next to some kind of date palm tree and one elephan came right up to the jeep and shock the tree with the fruit falling around us and ontop of the jeep. The elephants then proceeded to hoover up the fruit with in touching distance of us in the jeep and taking them from the roof, they were so close we were rooted to the spot in case it broke the moment and only took a couple of pics.
You can see the tree to the left of its head. It was mesmerizing and slightly scary at the same time.
Tony
https://www.flickr.com/photos/wherryman/
Wow!!!! That's one lovely adventure Tony. You must have felt humbled next to these almighty animals.
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"Any glimpse into the life of an animal quickens our own and makes it so much the larger and better in every way." John Muir
@ Tony, great story, Hope you had a serious zoom attached to capture those Ellies on camera lol I lived in Tanzania for 3 years and had one or two close encounters with them - an experience not for the faint hearted lol I never feared the lions that much, it was more the Elephants, especially matriarch and the most fearsome creature was the hippopotamus where you ensured you never got between it and it's water-hole !
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Regards, Hazel
WOW Tony That's what you call a closeup and close shave another great story, and pictures never thought l'd see this on this post. Keep them coming one and all, good to hear your experiences, large and small wildlife. Thanks for this Tony from yas
Hi Marina, it was an amazing experience,we saw plenty of ellies but nothing quite that close. Its the very, very low rumble they make that makes your hair stand on end when they are close., just awesome.
Cheers Yas, its a bit different but fun.
I bet it did Tony. I have only seen elephants in Parks but I would love the opportunity to observe them in the wild. I have spent hours on end admiring a young calf at Midlands Safari Park - playing like a baby with his ball. And then the magnificent adults ... wow. Lucky you for having such a fantastic experience.
So Borneo, Tanzania, didn't notice any golf in Tanzania though...I had my old EOS20D with a 100/400 zoom, had to change lens to get those pics as too close. We were charge by hippo in Botswana Ockavanga years ago, luckily stopped in front of jeep. Going to Zambia South Luangwa & Namibia next month so hoping for some more good pics.
Marina, we were lucky and saw quite a few very young ellies, so funny when in the water and trying to use their trunk to throw dust over them, totally uncoordinated. We saw young Hyena, lion, wild dog, gazelle & plenty of birds.