Étiquette : Origami

Twilight of the giants

African elephants at twilight, Okavango Delta, Chobe national park, Botswana

White Elephant Origami  

After successfully crowdfunding his latest project, large-scale origami artist Sipho Mabona built his 3 meters (10 feet) tall White Elephant from a 15 by 15 meters (50 by 50 feet) sheet of paper.

The last swimming elephant in the Andaman Islands, India

Swimming elephants like 60-year-old Rajan used to be a regular sight in the Andaman Islands, south of India, but this five ton Asian elephant is now the last of his kind. Replaced by motorised boats, Rajan no longer needs to swim miles between islands to work for his keeper, known as a ‘mahout’. Rajan still swims for ten minutes twice a day, completing about 500 yards before heading back to shore. Brazilian photographer, Daniel Botelho, travelled to the Andaman Islands in the Indian Ocean after hearing stories of islanders swimming with these giant beasts.

« I would swim between him and the sea bottom – but I almost got killed by the elephant during one photo shoot. Suddenly swell came and took me and the elephant by surprise. I was stuck in the sand because of the crash of the wave » said the photographer

« He did his best not to kill me – I felt him rolling on top and away from me, but it was an amazing experience to swim with an elephant. I felt like that could be one of the best days of my life. »

Those swimming elephants were all trained by their mahouts. Now nobody has an economic interest in spending ten years training elephants to swim.

Source (2012)

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