A photographer has captured a series of heart-warming portraits of a young girl’s friendship with an elephant in Vietnam. French photographer Réhahn took the images on a trip to Buon Don, a small village renowned as the “capital of elephants”. The photographer had hoped to capture some shots of the magnificent elephants but was surprised to witness such a loving friendship with the young girl.

Rehahn explains that the M’nong group lives in this mountainous region in the south of the country, not far from the Cambodian border. He spotted a young M’nong gir standing near an elephant. “She was wearing the traditional costume hand-stitched by the women of the village, and still worn by the poorest as it was their only piece of clothing. She intently gazed into the eyes of the animal and she didn’t immediately notice Réhahn who had already snapped the moment. The elephants are tamed very young and then become like family members. Never will an M’nong sell his elephant.”

The esteemed photographer explains that as a result they usually develop a very loving relationship, as the animal is a great help with carrying, building or working in the fields. A master rewards the animal’s efforts with daily care. “Even when a harvest is not good, he always shares his food with the one who has become the symbol of the high Vietnamese plateaus.”

Réhahn adds that he was very lucky to take a few shots of this friendly and simple scene. “The fusion between the two friends was such that when the girl began to pray, the giant animal knelt before her as if in a sign of respect. This photo is absolutely unique. Seeing this little girl in her ethnic dress, a tradition that tends to disappear, next to the imposing presence of the elephant, perfectly reflects the tremendous respect and kindness that the M’nong have for these animals. We can witness this solemn moment, this rare opportunity to believe in the union of two beings that seem to have nothing in common. And yet Kim Luan and her elephant show us that love is everywhere.”

Rehahn says that he had been to the region before, where he took a photograph of the young girl, which he went on to sell in his gallery. However, after taking that photograph he did not manage to catch the young girl’s name and could not send her the copy of the book her photo appeared in. So, the dedicated photographer decided to venture back to the area in July 2014 in a bid to find the young girl.

“I did not know her name or address, and had to cross the lake that separated the village from the school to find her, to no avail. I wanted to see her again and share some money and offer the book to the family. A few children said they knew her, but the language barrier prevented real communication. After myfruitless attempt to find the girl, I left the school, disappointed and saddened not to be able to carry out the mission to a successful conclusion.”

Rehahn explains that then a young girl ran up to him and informed him that she lived next door to her. He was delighted that he finally had the opportunity to pay tribute to the child who would not recognise him but who would be moved by his gesture. “These people have very few photos, that’s why this gift was received by her family with great interest, but also a lot of gratitude.”

Rehahn says he believes in karma, and that he was rewarded for going back to give the young girl the book; as soon after he was greeted with another fantastic scene watching Kim Luan’s moving friendship with an elephant. The esteemed photographer, who has travelled all around the world, explains: “Shooting a portrait is not always easy if you want to capture an emotion. People say that I can capture the soul and I think that is the best compliment you could give a portrait photographer.”

Asha, the two and a half year old elephant calf, does not look down on the pleasures of football…

It is always key that suitable activities and opportunities to play are provided to zoo animals. Environmental enrichment is really all about this: in one of its forms, animals are given different toys to play with. In our zoo, elephants are given, among other things, special balls that can withstand their weight and physical strength.

Asha, the small elephant born in February 2013, is particularly fond of this special elephant-proof ball and so attentive visitors are often rewarded with scenes of golden-footed Asha performing exciting footballing feats. We have recorded some frames of these as well.

This Asian Elephant was born early in the morning on Valentine’s Day at Zoo Budapest, after a 22-month gestation in 2013. The mother is then 12-year-old Angele, and her father is named Assam. A public vote was held on the zoo’s website to name the baby elephant. The choices all began with the letter A, to mirror her parent’s names. They were: Asha, Anita, Angyalka, Amelie, Aishwarya, Aurora. The winning moniker was Asha.

Budapest Zoo considered this a very important event, as this was the first Elephant birth there since 1961.

source: zoobudapest.com

Can you match the words with their definition?

Key:

1. d.

2. a.

3. e.

4. c.

5. b.

“To ensure that nothing disturbs the peace and quite of the animals, we closed off the Elephant House from the outside world almost hermetically. Hence, the public may not view yet the animals living here, and even among the staff of the Zoo, only keepers and veterinarians specifically assigned to care for the elephants may enter the restricted area,” announced a Budapest Zoo spokesperson.

If the baby is feeding with reassuring frequency and the mother’s behavior remains normal, the public will be allowed to visit the Elephant House. Depending on the development of the elephant baby, competent staff of the Zoo will determine when the elephants will be displayed again.

The newly born Valentine’s Day calf already suckles milk from its mother’s breast in the Budapest Zoo. This is very important since the baby did not succeed at first and could only get the essential milk with human help. In the first 24 hours the baby did not find its mother’s breasts at all, therefore caregivers and veterinarians milked the elephant mom called Angele and fed the baby elephant with the extracted milk. Since then such feeding happened more times and fortunately it turned out that the baby can be called to the nursing bottle.

The fate of the little elephant has been followed by many in recent days. People have asked information about its condition and hoped that everything would turn out ok. The Zoo still asks for the patience of the visitors: the Elephant House remains closed as long as calm environment is required for the mom and her baby.

In the history of the Budapest Zoo and Botanic Garden five elephant calves were born, the last one on May 10 in 1961. Since then in the past half century, however not a single Asian elephant was born in Hungary until now.

source: www.budapest.hu

joyous – örömteljes
uncertain – bizonytalan
to nurture – táplálni, szoptatni, gondozni
keeper – ápoló
to monitor – megfigyelni, felügyelni
to feed – etetni, táplálkozni
to look after – törődni, valaki gondját viselni
properly – megfelelően
offspring – utód
to be considered – tartani valaminek
experienced – tapasztalt
spotlight – reflektorfény
to ensure – biztosítani
to disturb – zavarni
to close off – lezárni
hence – ennélfogva, ezért
assigned – illetékes, felhatalmazott
restricted area – korlátozott/tiltott terület/övezet
reassuring – megnyugtató
frequency – gyakoriság
behavior – viselkedés
to remain – maradni
to allow – (meg)engedni
depending on – valamitől függően
competent – hozzáértő, alkalmas
to determine – meghatározni, eldönteni
to display – kiállítani, bemutatni
newly born – újszülött
calf – borjú
to suckle – szopni, szoptatni
breast – mell
to succeed – sikerül valamit csinálni, sikeresnek lenni
caregiver – gondviselő
to milk – fejni
to extract – megszerezni, kivonni
fortunately – szerencsére
to turn out – kiderülni
nursing bottle – cumisüveg
fate – sors
in recent days – a napokban
condition – állapot
patience – türelem
calm – nyugodt
environment – környezet
required – szükséges
not a single – egyetlen sem

Végezetül pedig nézzünk meg egy rövid angol nyelvű videót a budapesti állatkertről!