Shooting an elephant (with a telephoto lens)

By Marc Ethier

Gather Correspondent

On our right, deep in the bush, somewhere near the river, we heard the sounds.

Or maybe we imagined them: a scuffling. Scratches. Heavy steps. Some large mammal rooting in the undergrowth, trampling the brush.

Maybe. We couldn't be sure. It seemed far off somehow, distant, surreal.

But the next noise was unmistakable: the trumpet of a full-grown bull elephant.

A breeze filled the silence: air sucked into a vacuum. Then another, louder, angrier call blew through the bamboo. The animal was big, and very near. His calls continued: we debated whether to go nearer: the sounds were of a beast in a state of turmoil, almost frenzy.

It is something to go, in half a day, from the mad energy of Bangkok to the peaceful quietude of Thailand’s most renowned nature preserve – and then be greeted by the clarion call of the world’s largest land creature. It is a strange and wonderful experience.

Some 200 kilometers northeast of the country’s bustling cosmopolitan capital, Khao Yai was established in 1962 as Thailand’s first national park and remains its most popular and respected wilderness area: a model for the region, and the world. We found ourselves wandering its paths late one afternoon recently, admiring the sight of a 6-foot alligator reposing on a log, a hornbill ponderously balanced on the branches of an evergreen tree, the herds of practically domesticated, wapiti-like deer. Gibbons and macaques, young and adult, mustered along the roadside, gleefully plundering campsites.

The day grew late and our feet got sorer and our cameras’ memory cards fuller, and we headed for the car. Then came the sound – a stone’s throw to our right, coming from a path we’d just walked and were now looping back to – of the elephant. It’s a sound we all know, whether from zoos or circuses or nature programs, an unmistakable sound – but to hear it in the wild is an experience altogether unique. Primordial. Breathtaking.

The only thing that could top it would be to actually see one of the creatures that made it – and take its picture. We resolved to go in search of the big bull elephant, even though he sounded hurt or angry, or both, and was probably a danger to meddling humans. But by the time we got back to the spot we knew he’d been, he was gone.

Elephants are shy: we looked for others but missed them despite concerted perambulations that night and the next day. We moseyed around several salt licks they are known to visit but saw nothing. We followed the floodlights of the “guides” as they drove their pickup trucks laden with tourists around the park’s roads late into the night: no dice. No big bull, no cows, no calves.

But we heard the calls, including the big bull, still hurt – a park worker confirmed our assessment – still bellowing, now somewhere far off in the forest, long into the night.

Khao Yai comprises more than 2,000 square kilometers; elephants, some 300 of which are said to inhabit the park, are notoriously adept at hiding in much smaller areas. It was no wonder we failed to see one.

Khao Yai is home to more than 320 species of birds, a million bats, civet cats, porcupines, wild pigs and more. The flora is varied and wonderful and would require a doctoral thesis to describe. But the elephants are the park’s biggest draw, bringing in thousands of visitors a month; a whole industry has grown up around the nightly pursuit of a rare brief view of one of the majestic creatures.

Still, there’s one animal in Khao Yai even harder to spot than elephants: tigers. An estimated 20 are all that remain despite conservation efforts to revive their numbers.

Which got us thinking: shooting a tiger – with a telephoto lens, of course – is the ultimate challenge.

As if we needed any more reason to come back.

Marc and his wife, Lisa, sold their home outside Washington, D.C., quit their jobs and embarked on a yearlong world trip in September. They have visited Fiji, New Zealand, Australia and Southeast Asia and will continue to India and Europe through September 2007. You can find all of the Global Nomad articles at www.twoheadedturtle.gather.com. Read more about their adventures at www.2headedturtle.com.

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