WEATHERED

WEATHERED captures the sheer size, authority and yet gentleness of Africa’s Elephant Queen. In the heart of Kruger we found this old soul foraging between the trees. Her skin weather worn through the decades of struggle and ultimate tests of survival. But who truly knows what these eyes have seen? As she glanced up at me, I felt her telling me a story of our ancient past, where our roads began, crossed paths, and how we use to thrive together. And as water started to form around her eyes, I found myself looking at a life telling me all about humanity. That for far too long we have been disconnected, allowing ourselves to be isolated from the great wild we were born to. Here I found myself taken by the layers of skin that have formed on her face and the wrinkles that like a map reveals the very point where we separated ourselves from nature itself. And yet here she stands, still attempting to connect, to bring us back to a place where we can peacefully coexist. Where he life matters just as much as our own, and where in return she will let us join her herd and lead us to her sacred lands.