Assam, India 2024
An edition of 25 in all sizes
For this picture, a warm sepia-like tone and the apparent formality of the pose suggests a family photograph from a bygone age.
We were rolling along a narrow trail parallel to a river on a quiet and uneventful morning. Nearing the forest edge we all looked up and there they were, a dozen strong family of Asiatic elephants loping towards us as if we weren’t meant to be here. They saw us at the same time as we saw them so both parties were equally surprised. We stopped immediately just as the young ones scrambled to huddle under the adults for security.
They came on a little more towards us and I was able to get a few pictures before they bunched up and melted back into the forest. The whole encounter lasted around five minutes.
Older females bring crucial experience to the group. Studies have found that the presence of a grandmother cuts the mortality risk to calves born to young mothers by about eight-fold. Occupying 430 square kilometres of the state of Assam, Kaziranga is a remnant of a landscape shaped by the ever-shifting course of the Brahmaputra River as it meanders towards its junction with the Ganges.
The park’s dynamic mosaic of marshes, lakes, sandbars, grasslands and forests hosts two-thirds of the world's 4,000 greater one-horned rhinos, 2,600 wild water buffalo, 150 tigers and more than 900 elephants.
Kaziranga was awarded Highly Commended in the Behaviour: Mammals category in Wildlife Photographer Of The Year 2026.
Assam, India 2024
An edition of 25 in all sizes
For this picture, a warm sepia-like tone and the apparent formality of the pose suggests a family photograph from a bygone age.
We were rolling along a narrow trail parallel to a river on a quiet and uneventful morning. Nearing the forest edge we all looked up and there they were, a dozen strong family of Asiatic elephants loping towards us as if we weren’t meant to be here. They saw us at the same time as we saw them so both parties were equally surprised. We stopped immediately just as the young ones scrambled to huddle under the adults for security.
They came on a little more towards us and I was able to get a few pictures before they bunched up and melted back into the forest. The whole encounter lasted around five minutes.
Older females bring crucial experience to the group. Studies have found that the presence of a grandmother cuts the mortality risk to calves born to young mothers by about eight-fold. Occupying 430 square kilometres of the state of Assam, Kaziranga is a remnant of a landscape shaped by the ever-shifting course of the Brahmaputra River as it meanders towards its junction with the Ganges.
The park’s dynamic mosaic of marshes, lakes, sandbars, grasslands and forests hosts two-thirds of the world's 4,000 greater one-horned rhinos, 2,600 wild water buffalo, 150 tigers and more than 900 elephants.
Kaziranga was awarded Highly Commended in the Behaviour: Mammals category in Wildlife Photographer Of The Year 2026.
