ELEPHANT SAFARI ENGAGEMENT | CHARLOTTE & STEPH

Experiencing the serenity and beauty of the bushveld is where I truly feel at home, finding unparalleled joy amidst nature's bounty. This connection deeply resonated when assisting my cousin Charlotte with her pre-wedding photo session planning. Our selection naturally gravitated towards the bushveld, a place echoing our shared childhood memories.

Charlotte and I grew up mere steps apart. Our early years were enriched by the frequent encounters with wildlife on our family farm. Additionally, our grandparents farm, nestled on the border of the Kruger National Park, right next to the Crocodile River, it offered us unforgettable moments, like observing elephants from our grandmother’s veranda.

This backdrop seemed perfect for Charlotte and her fiancé Stephen, both big admirers of the bushveld. Charlotte's bond with nature extends beyond appreciation; she is a gifted sculptor whose works brilliantly capture the essence of wildlife. I highly recommend exploring her exquisite creations under the name Charlotte Elizabeth.

I am thrilled to present Charlotte and Stephen’s Bushveld Safari session at Adventures with Elephants. Despite the sweltering heat on the day of the shoot, the outcome and feeling were nothing short of magical. Surrounded by the majestic presence of elephants, their grace and beauty left us in awe, a sentiment shared by everyone at AWE. This experience was not just a photo session but a celebration of nature, love, and artistry.

Make up by Nerina

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Adventures with Elephants is not only a research facility, but AWE is also open for visitation and is only about 2 hours’ drive from Pretoria, perfect for a day outing if you have no idea what to do. They offer educational experiences, nature walks with the elephants, 1-hour private session (ideal for a photoshoot - bring your own photographer) and a couple more options.

Book your experience here.

““Of all African animals, the elephant is the most difficult for man to live with, yet its passing – if this must come – seems the most tragic of all. I can watch elephants (and elephants alone) for hours at a time, for sooner or later the elephant will do something very strange such as mow grass with its toenails or draw the tusks from the rotted carcass of another elephant and carry them off into the bush. There is mystery behind that masked gray visage, and ancient life force, delicate and mighty, awesome and enchanted, commanding the silence ordinarily reserved for mountain peaks, great fires, and the sea.””

— Peter Matthiessen, The Tree Where Man Was Born

Elephant Conservation through Education

There is nothing I love more than to be in the bushveld and to be surrounded by our beautiful wildlife. I grew up right next to the Kruger National Park, so whenever I am in the bush I feel right at home, and the older I get the more sacred the bush becomes. Today I am sharing a very special shoot, I urge you to read the whole post as I feel so many people are uneducated about these gorgeous Gentle Giants I get to photograph so often, this is my opinion and how I have experienced Adventures with Elephants. >

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I love visiting Adventures with Elephants (AWE), the people here take in elephants that society has seen as ‘problem' elephants and they habituate them. Many of you might not like this idea of elephants being habituated, but they have nowhere else to go, their choices are limited to being culled, poached or rescued and placed in captivity.

Do you know how much an elephant is worth in Africa? The truth is that no one wants elephants, they destroy habitats (not through any fault of their own) and are very expensive to move to new locations, you will probably have to pay someone to take them off your hands and most of the time the people who will pay top dollar for them are the ones that want to hunt them for sport.

It is an appalling fact that over the last 100 years the African elephant population has been reduced from 3.5 million elephants to only 375 000 remaining today, and habitat destruction has reduced the land available to elephants to only 5% of what they once had (usually the worst lands, as humans have taken the best for cities, agriculture and such) and if the current rate of poaching continues then we will lose all our elephants within a decade’. [Source]

Our elephants are in trouble and there is an urgent need to protect these gentle giants. >

A little more about AWE

The group of 7 elephants at AWE have a purpose that is far better than just being rescued and placed in a national park where they will just over populate it futher, the elephants at AWE help their species and other species by means of educating us humans.

The program they run here is to; 1, look after the 7 elephants 2, help the communities around them by job creation 3, Educate the locals who have to live with the elephants, 4, observe the elephants and learn from them. Their end goal is conservation through education. Adventures with Elephants help our wildlife more than you know:

Some facts about Adventures with Elephants:

• Adventures with Elephants have 7 elephants

• 5 of them were considered troubled elephants and were going to be culled. 2 Elephants were born into the herd.

• The 7 elephants get to roam freely on 300 hectare during the day - they need way more than this, but unfortunately land is limited (still, they are far from being caged like zoo animals - in my opinion).

• At certain times during the day they go and meet visitors > the keepers teach the visitors more about the elephants, their habits and the habitat they occupy.

• At night they sleep in a boma with some of the keepers to keep them safe from poachers.

• These elephants are habituated and humanly trained for a variety of roles from educational demonstrations of their abilities to film and research work as well as daily enrichment and anti poaching efforts for all wildlife in the area.

• AWE’s elephants are one of the most diversely researched herds in South Africa and have been contributing to many different research projects.

I started working with Adventures with elephants about 6 years ago and it has been a treat to go there every now and then. I hope more and more people will go and visit this place to see what it is all about. >

“In a perfect world, all elephants would be free and wild, indeed all game would be free and wild. In the imperfect world we live in, we must find solutions for both animal and humans to be able to co-exist. As long as wildlife has no value to the people who own or live with them, wildlife will continue to die carelessly and cruelly. ”

— Adventures with Elephants

ELEPHANT ADVENTURES COUPLE PHOTOGRAPHY

Safari Couple Photo Shoot

During the lockdown so many businesses are going under and even though we can’t possible save the whole South Africa, I do feel we should do everything in our power to help those who cannot help themselves, including animal conservation. Right now Adventures with Elephants have lost all their bookings during lockdown and possibly indefinitely since we do not know when this will end. They are an amazing company that gave these elephants a home, they are very happy to live here, they get to roam the farm when there are no visitors and sleep in a guarded area at night to protect them from poachers. Please visit the Adventures website in the link above to make a donation or spread the word.

Here is the beautiful Mavie and Werner celebrating their life in South Africa, they are immigrating to Canada and thought it would be a great idea to give themselves a farewell treat with this elephant experience.

Makeup by Missy Makeup Artist

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TROPICAL MAURITIUS ENGAGEMENT

Destination Couple Photography

This was such a great adventure traveling from South Africa to Mauritius with the amazing Zavion Kotze team to spend a couple of days documenting Kira and Ben’s destination wedding. I loved the couple’s laid back sense and I am looking forward to sharing some of my favourite highlights from their wedding day soon!

Kira & Ben’s engagement shoot was a dream in the beautiful Mauritian forest with the green lush fauna, magical sunbeams and a striking tropical bouquet by Zavion. We ended up at a lagoon nearby with the perfect sunset.

One of the things that I love about Kira is that she’s not only a vet by trade but her love for animals is as big as mine. For her guests she asked that instead of a gift they donate money to a charity that helps animal welfare for the animals and education to the locals of Mauritius, who currently have a huge overpopulation which leads to cats and dogs being malnourished and ridden with diseases. These babies need your help so if you would like to donate either your time or money visit Paws Mauritius to help.

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BUSHVELD ENGAGEMENT SESSION

A lovely session with my cousin Anzel and her fiancé Jacques. We went out to a location close to our homes and photographed with the beautiful lowveld backdrop. I am very excited to photograph Anzel & Jacques wedding in June on our family farm!

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Hair & Nails Beautiful You Salon

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NELSPRUIT ENGAGEMENT SESSION

If you have been following my blog, you will know I have a very big family whom I get to photograph very often. Here is Inge and Hilma’s engagement session. Inge is Anje’s sister and my fathers’ cousins’ daughter (my cousin twice removed?). Not sure what we call each other in english terms but we are family!

I am so honoured to be able to photograph Hilma and Inge’s journey, starting with their engagement session, photographed in Nelspruit, at a wildlife reserve with a lucky couple of shots with the zebra’s roaming in the area. I also got to photograph Hilma’s two sweet Wirehaired Fox Terriers with the cutest little bowties. Their wedding day will follow in July by the sea. So much to look forward too.

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PARIS COUPLE SHOOT

Melissa & Antonie are no strangers to my lens and it was great meeting up with them during my visit to Europe in September. It was probably one of the best days, we woke up really early to start shooting their couple session and afterward, Melissa and I, gallivanted across Paris. We went to the Louvre and Le Petit Palais for their shoot.

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PRETORIA ENGAGEMENT SESSION

A beautiful engagement with James & Denize, a couple from Dubai. Denize has a contagious smile but it's because James loves getting that smile out of her. Her stunning dress by Silver Swallow Design and her makeup by the talented Missy Makeup Artist.

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STEFAN & CHELAINE

You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams ~ Dr. Seuss

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Meet Stefan & Chelaine, Stefan is my second youngest brother - the real and only middle kid with the kindest heart of us all! Congratulations on your engagement brother! Hope you and Chelaine enjoys the whole wedding process!

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Makeup by Nadie | Dress by Silver Swallow

GARDEN ENGAGEMENT

It was a million tiny little things that, when you added them all up, they meant we were supposed to be together ~ Sleepless in Seattle

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NICHOLAS & SARAH

She was a beautiful dream I had been searching for. The one to wake me up. ~ Atticus

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It's the last couple of weeks of winter and this beautiful shoots ends that off perfectly! To Sarah + Nicholas, it was wonderful to spend the afternoon with you, see you soon!

Film Session

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HANNO & GENEVIEVE

I just want you to know, that when I picture myself happy, it is with you.

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Cute family lifestyle session with Hanno & Genevieve and their two bassets, Guss & Ody and some coffee and sweets... #doglovers!!

MAKEUP Missy Makeup artistry | HAIR BY Strands for Hair | SWEETS Pippa & Polly Cakes