Dust To Dust

A time and a place, the time was the time of an Elephant cow fighting between life and death. The place, a place with me looking through a lens as nature shows some of the tough and sad side of it in the heart of Botswana.

On a very hot and dry afternoon in Botswana we approached a water hole with the sight of yet another Elephant carcass. It is November and Botswana is caught in a relentless draught with the sight of carcasses being the norm. This is no carcass though, not yet. As we approached I mentioned to a good friend and fellow photographer Armand that something isn't quite right, with as getting closer we could see the signs of what appeared like some sort of struggle took place around this Elephant lying completely still on its side a mere 15 metres from the water hole. The earth around it was dislodged and we shortly found out how as there was a sudden burst of movement in this seemingly dead Elephant. It was her! It was her trying to get up that that created an almost perfect circular shape of dislodged ground all around her as she struggled with her feet in an attempt to get back onto her feet.

She was alive but for how long? We stayed the whole afternoon with her which ended up in almost 5 hours of watching and being spectators to this scene which felt so helpless. Helpless Elephant looking at helpless humans as this is part of nature and we are not to interfere even though one wants to.

We left the evening with the sun setting, returning early morning to what we hoped would be an Elephant that passed quietly into the night. To only find that she was still alive with a eye of desperation staring straight at us feeling like it is going right through your soul.

We were confused to find that there was some sort of water near the top of her stomach only to later witness her putting her own trunk into her mouth and taking out water as she was now drowning in her own fluids. This was both amazing and very sad to see. We sat numerous hours with her hoping for her to now simply pass as it was clear that she would never be able to get up and grace this earth with her presence. A herd passed by with some very young but showed very interest. She started having very regular muscle contractions and we knew the end was near as we witnessed her breath out her last breath with a final tear rolling out of her eye that showed the life disappear from this magical animal.

We sat in silence for a good few minutes as this was one of the most difficult scenes I ever had to film. Something that will stay with me forever and something that inevitably happens to us all. "By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return."