These photos have been taken by Adele Grunberg who visited Kaziranga National Park in India, in 2014 and was in for a pleasant surprise when she saw a bulky rhino skipping like children and elephants swimming in a pond filled with pink water hyacinths.
This is a guest post. Photos and story re-published with permission from the author.
Skipping Rhinos
I have never really thought about rhinos skipping. You know what I mean, skipping like children do. But I saw it with my own eyes.
The mother rhino crossed the road right behind her baby. You could tell she was a baby. She just had that cute, mischievous look in her eyes.
And she was happy. Happy to be free, to roam in wide open spaces, to have plenty to eat and to play. And then it started. She was skipping, running around like crazy. Back and forth, running circles around her mother. All four feet off the ground at once.
Mom had that look on her face, tolerant but put upon, as if to say “those kids!” This went on for quite some time, baby going in bigger and bigger circles, until finally, exhausted, she sidled up to her mother and resumed walking, blase, just as though nothing had ever happened.
Elephants In A Pond
Elephants. Many elephants. Looks like mamas, grandmas, toddlers, teenagers. Lumbering along. Mix and match. Where are they all going? Oh wait! I see. Between the trees. They are climbing up and over a small hump in the brown earth and then making a splash.
But I am too far away. I want to be closer. The guide drives up onto a slatted wooden bridge. And there below on both sides in a lovely pond just filled with pink water hyacinths in riotous bloom, the elephants are having a pool party.
Walking, swimming, eating, playing.
Part in, part out of the water, they look half black and half white.
Some have vegetation sticking to their heads, their massive backs.
They yank big clumps of vines from the water and swing them to and fro with their trunks, freeing the greens of mud and dirt. Perfect for feasting. Must be joyous for them. I know it’s joyous to watch.
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