Post #349263 by bigbrotiki on Thu, Dec 13, 2007 1:33 AM

Aaaah, two nights and a day at Knysna Elephant park, what a nice final perk after two weeks of breathing desert dust:

Green views.

Tribal art greeted you when entering the rooms.

Carved head board

Cool elephant art

This is what they USED to do with elephants: The Duke of Edinburgh and his hunting party.

The result: Ivory trinkets

But the real treat was this:
We got in kind of late, and I was told that the elephants were just being put away for the night. I was bummed, but I quickly shot a photo of the last ones outside, including the baby with which we were gonna shoot the "poor lil' elephant baby orphaned by poachers" scenes the next day. They were kind of far away:

So here are the elephants' night quarters:

They got a nice dinner of fresh green branches:

Here is the upstairs lobby of the park's lodge, (with my room door open):

And here we have the REVERSE ANGLE from that lobby !!!!!:

We were sleeping WITH the elephants! I have never heard or seen of this concept. What an incredibly elating experience to live with the animals!
I felt like I fell into the lap of tourist luxury. Here is the view from my room door:

...and another room with a view:

What a wonder-full surprise at the end of a hard shoot.

The next day:

Baby having breakfast

The toddler is being led to the set while mom has to stay behind

This lil' guy was very feisty and curious...

....chasing the Steadicam and rubbing shoulders with crew and equipment.

Here are the big guys stepping on the set for the poacher scenes

Bad bad poachers!

The last set up of the last shooting day: Dawn of the elephants!:

The gang at the local watering hole:

Then, waking up today: Good morning elephants!

Here they are, going to work for the tourist dolla in the morning light:

Bye bye elephants. Bye bye ...AFRICA! (fade up dramatic Les Baxter score)

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2007-12-13 08:47 ]