This image took 2nd place and was published in National Wildlife Magazine. This was one of the sweetest, funniest moments, which occurred in Ruckomechi, which is located in the Zambezi Valley’s Mana Pools National Park. Ruckomechi looks out from the banks of the mighty Zambezi River. It is a remote, beautiful place with spectacular views of the broad flowing river, the adjacent woodland and the mountains of the Rift Valley escarpment.
This ele herd had been basking and bathing in the mud, and then it was time to go. All of the herd members easily stepped up the embankment, but the youngest, with his elbows at the top of the bank, could not pull himself up. His knees just kept sliding along the slippery slope of the embankment. The herd was moving on and he was getting more and more desperate and anxious. He finally got a knee-hold enough to pull himself up. He simultaneously trumpeted the cutest little trumpet of frustration while trotting to catch up to the herd.