As part of our Planet Earth Live global event, here’s an exclusive post from Warren Samuels, Wildlife Cameraman filming in Samburu.
Warren filming elephants
I am here in Samburu National Reserve, in northern Kenya; filming Elephants for Planet Earth Live, and have just been witness to one of the most dramatic events ever seen!
A large group of elephants were massing on the far bank in what looked like the beginnings of a crossing. The river was up in flood and the current flowing strong. The herd ventured into the deeper water accompanied by three baby calves. The deeper the water the stronger the current, and the calves very soon lost their footing and were swept downstream. Their mothers (all first time mothers and with little experience) panicked and swam after the drowning calves managing to recover them in the nick of time. They used their trunks to reach out and grab hold of their baby’s’ tiny trunks and guided them safely back to the river bank.
A Matriarch cow elephant by the name of Euphrates from the “Rivers” herd crossed successfully with older calves, which then triggered a second attempt at crossing the river by the rest of the herd.
As the group headed into the deeper water, the three baby calves were swept away again but this time the current was stronger and the three mothers struggled to swim after them. Little trunks stuck out of the water like snorkels as the three babies desperately tried to breathe. At one point a mother’s trunk reached out and grabbed hold of a baby’s trunk but then she lost her grip and the current tore the baby away from her. I was filming this whole event with a J40 long lens and was seeing all this action as full frame images. I remember watching the three little trunks disappearing downstream and thinking to myself that I was about to capture what was about to be the most horrific scene I have ever recorded on film. It was like being a witness to little children at the beach being dragged off into the surf by a strong undertow, with little hands and arms above the water desperately beckoning for help. The crew was powerless to do anything, it was though we were watching it all in slow motion and frozen with shock.
The three mothers exited the river quickly and ran downstream following after their babies in the water. Fortunately, the three little calves floated away from the main current and into slower moving water, which allowed them to swim for the riverbank. As they struggled to get out of the water, I couldn’t help think that now after surviving the drowning, they were now vulnerable to an attack by a crocodile! Gradually the calves managed to get better traction on the muddy bank and the mothers were soon upon them using their large and powerful trunks to help guide them up the slope and away from the waters edge.
In all my twenty years of filming dramatic wildlife events in Africa, I have never ever felt so emotionally moved as I did with filming this event. My heart was literally in my mouth.
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