In Zambia, the call – and trumpet – of the wild

August 18, 2017 at 6:30PM
Can I have your name as you would like it to appear in print, and the town in which you live?
Mark Wirt
Minneapolis, Minnesota Where were you when you took this photo?
We were canoeing on the Zambezi River in Zambia. What does it show?
We were doing some game spotting along the river. My wife, Ann Brimacombe, was with our guide in the lead canoe. I was following in a second canoe. An elephant was grazing near the shore as we drifted past. The guide got Ann closer for a better photo assuring us t
Ann Brimacombe and a safari guide glided close to an elephant in Zambia. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

The Traveler: Mark Wirt of Minneapolis.

The scene: An elephant looms large on the bank of the Zambezi River in Zambia. "We were doing some game spotting along the river. My wife, Ann Brimacombe, was with our guide in the lead canoe. I was following in a second canoe. An elephant was grazing near the shore as we drifted past. The guide got Ann closer for a better photo, assuring us that the elephant wouldn't go to the effort to get in the river, but would trumpet to scare us off. Which worked," Wirt wrote in an e-mail.

Destination: Zambia, a landlocked country in southern Africa, is a great place for a safari, according to Wirt. "There are not a lot of people and many national parks to visit. Plus Zambia allows walking safaris so you can hike among the animals (with an armed park ranger). So it's a little more active than a typical driving safari," he wrote. The country has 20 national parks and 34 game management areas and also contains the famed Victoria Falls. For more info, go to zambiatourism.com.

The Photo: "Ann had our nice camera, so I shot this with my iPhone," Wirt wrote. He captured a series of images and likes this one best because the canoe is angled just right and the elephant appears to be looking straight at the camera.

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