Dance of the Elephants

The following day it was off to the jungle again for John, Krishna, and I but this time I opted to take a jeep tour so we could get to several places that we couldn’t get to by walking. Our goal for the day was to see either a wild rhinoceros or wild elephant, since we had accomplished our goal of seeing a wild tiger the day before.

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As John and Krishna were getting our permit to enter the park I spotted a group of monkeys hanging out having some breakfast.

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As I was taking this picture one of the larger males was stealthily sneaking into our jeep to try and steal our lunch.

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The roads through the jungle were so picturesque in the morning.

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We got here early in the morning and immediately heard some elephants rustling around in the trees.

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As we sat patiently waiting for the elephants to show themselves I was visited by several butterflies.

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After several hours of waiting we were rewarded by a ton of elephants! In total we counted 34 elephants in what seemed like two or possibly three groups.

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The elephants were around for probably an hour, some of them decided to roll in the dirt.

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Some of them decided to have a bit of fun playing with each other.

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And some of them decided to play with each other in a different way.

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My guide Krishna has been into the park over 2,200 days in the last 15 years and this was the first time he had ever seen wild elephants mating. I was lucky enough to see this on only my second day into the park.

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After he finished he decided to run around in the sun to celebrate.

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Watching the elephants in their natural environment was amazing.

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They’re beautiful even in black and white.

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After the group(s) of elephants wandered off, we decided to come here in hopes of seeing a rhino.

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As I sat in a tree waiting for a rhino, I was able to catch this eagle mid flight.

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After about an hour and a half wait two rhinos made their appearance at the river.

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Monkeys, elephants, butterflies, birds, rhinos, and more, a great second day in the park.