Rivaldo

[Prasanth Sreenivasan]

went in search of this guy and he was waiting for us in the masinagudi-ooty road :001_smile:
NIKON D3100, 1/100, f-5.3, ISO-400, time-6.00 pm

[Rajan Kanagasabai]

Wow, You sure were lucky. Last saw him almost a year ago. How is he ? Does he still have the would scar on the trunk ? Is he able to use his trunk freely ? Planning to spend a week at Masinagudi late May and hope i get to see him.

Readers, who are not aware of Rivaldo, the handsome tusker is a legend in the Masinagudi range, had lost a fair bit of his cheek and a part of his trunk to poachers, when the awesome Mark Davidar (son of the legendary conservationist E.C.Davidar) who used to run the 'Cheetal Walk' (also known as Jungle Trails) took care of him and nursed him to a great extent. Mark's place was a mecca for the wildlife lover, for it was situated in the midst of the thick jungle, adjacent to a wildlife corridor and from his verandah, amazing spectacles played out daily - all within a few hundred meters of the dwelling.

Sadly Mark is no more, but the innumerable visits to his place and fond memories along with Rivaldo, Ronado and Carlos (all elephants) will linger in my minds forever.

Thanks for sharing
Rajan

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Prasanth,
Nice to see this. Did you upload an image larger than 300kb? There seems to be some loss of details.

A bit more brightness would have been also better. You seem to have some pretty low light. Were you shooting handheld or bean bag?

I haven't been in that area for a long time. Would love to see some more images of this tusker. Thanks for sharing.
Cheers,
Sabyasachi
PS: Wish resort owners in Masinagudi can learn a thing or two from the late Mark Davidar.

[Mrudul Godbole]

Nice sighting of this Tusker in the open on the road. Good to know that he is doing well after being saved from the poachers. You can crop a bit from the right to remove the hint of the road bending and going away from the frame at the top. Thanks for sharing.

[Roopak Gangadharan]

Nice to see this pic. Yeah...he is a great loss .... Someone who exemplified what true love for nature is in the way he lived. In that sense everybody including nature lovers and conservationists have a lot to learn from what Mark stood for..... Wont get to see too many people like him in time to come.

TFS
Roopak

[Prasanth Sreenivasan]

sabyasachi sir,

thanks for the inputs..the uploaded image size is not over 300kb. yes..i was shooting handheld.

thanks
prasanth