Dust To Dust

A Time and a Place

The time was that of an Elephant cow caught between life and death.

The place was Botswana, where I stood behind my lens as nature revealed one of its most difficult and heartbreaking sides.

It was a scorching afternoon when we arrived at a waterhole, only to be met with the sight of yet another Elephant carcass. November in Botswana is unforgiving—the drought relentless, the land parched, and the presence of carcasses sadly all too common.

But this was no carcass—not yet.

As we drew closer, I felt something wasn’t right. I mentioned it to my good friend and fellow photographer, Armand. The ground around the Elephant’s body was disturbed, almost circular, as though a struggle had taken place. Then, to our shock, the “lifeless” body moved. She was still alive.

She tried desperately to rise, her legs carving that circle of torn earth around her, but her body could not respond to her will. She lay just fifteen meters from water, so close and yet so impossibly far.

We stayed with her for five long hours, watching in helpless silence. A helpless Elephant. Helpless humans. This was nature unfolding before us, and though every instinct told us to intervene, we knew this was not our place.

As the sun set, we left with heavy hearts, hoping she would slip quietly away during the night. But when we returned the next morning, she was still there—alive, her eyes filled with a desperation that pierced straight through the soul.

Then came something both astonishing and tragic: water pooled unnaturally near her stomach. We soon realised why. With deliberate movements, she drew her trunk into her mouth and pulled water out. She was drowning in her own fluids. To witness this act of survival, even in her final hours, was as humbling as it was heartbreaking.

A herd passed by, including young calves, but they showed little interest. Nature moves on, even when an individual falls behind. Her breathing grew strained. Muscle contractions shook her body. And then, at last, she exhaled her final breath. A single tear slid from her eye, marking the moment her spirit left this earth.

We sat in silence. It was one of the hardest moments I’ve ever filmed—an image that will never leave me. It was a reminder of both the fragility and the resilience of life, and of the cycle we are all bound to.

"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."