I have no other elephant shot in my files even remotely similar to this. Yellow fever trees were often found in swampy mosquito regions of Africa and early white settlers associated them with the malaria. Throw in the distinctive yellow colouring and we get to Yellow fever. More recently Rudyard Kipling drew our attention to them in the Just So Stories – in The Elephant’s Child set along the Limpopo river, he talks of the abundance of fever trees.

In early morning light the trees glow – creating an ethereal effect – especially when the trees are grouped in forest of their own. The magic came with the arrival of Tim – it could not have been better. My only issue was to think fast enough to have the right lens and composition – he was not going to wait around for me. Focus either deliberately includes or excludes and on this occasion I needed as much of this fairytale to be pin sharp as possible.

A moment in time. This picture gets stronger and stronger the bigger it is.