Photos

This is another reality shot from my visit to Africa. This is taken on the upper Zambezi, just above Victoria falls. I took this while on a "sunset cruise" (aka booze cruise). There were approximately five boats on the water all in a fairly small stretch of the river, all searching for an up-close-and-personal wildlife experience. On one hand, it felt a bit like we, the tourists, were vultures out to find fresh meat. Each boat took turns getting as close as they dared to the elephant or hippo.

But there are two sides to this. Zambia is an impoverished country and at 50$ per person, per cruise one can quickly figure out that just one of these boats brings in a lot of tourist dollars to the region. Those dollars in turn make it less desirable to kill these animals. Sure it isn't the solution to the problem of poaching, but this elephant is really on the job. He probably won't get shot while posing for the tourists and his efforts will hopefully buy him and his friends extra time.