Mammals are everywhere. Sir David Attenborough reveals the ingenuity behind their success.
Imagine sitting silently in an open-sided truck, eyes transfixed on a herd of wild elephants passing only a few metres away under the moonlight. When one of them – the largest matriarch – turns to face you. Directly you. You lock eyes as your heart climbs up your throat. And then, slowly, she takes a step towards you. And another. All the hairs on your arms stand up and a wave of panic washes through you.
When I was asked to direct this shoot, following the nightly jaunts of African elephants through Victoria Falls town, I was so excited. I’d dreamt of seeing elephants in the wild since I was a little girl. For my 8th birthday my parents took me to Dudley Zoo, and a keeper let me feed sliced white bread to their two elephants. They were colossal, and beautiful, and I was in love. Victoria Falls itself is one of the Wonders of the World – and it lived up to the hype.
I remember the sound of their deep sighs, and the soft scuffs of their feet on the tarmacked roads. On one night the mother leant over a parked car to shake a pink tree in full blossom and the baby looked up as petals rained down on it from above. I think that time I cried. Every night felt as surreal as that “Pink Elephants On Parade” scene in Dumbo. Like at any moment these giants would stand on their hind legs and start playing the trumpet.
Elephants naturally make long-distance movements in search of seasonal foods, and here this means they forage between the protected fragments of the parks and in human territories. Sharing space with wild animals is always challenging, but especially when they’re this powerful. The elephant-sized holes decorating the garden walls of Victoria Falls are proof.
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