Swimming with the…Elephants?

Rajah, The Last Swim­ming Ele­phant in the Andaman Islands, India

I always heard the phrase “swim­ming with the sharks.” But swim­ming with the ele­phants?  The Tele­graph recently posted a story about the last swim­ming ele­phant in the Andaman Islands.

The pic­tures are spec­tac­ular and inspired us to include on our own blog.

According to The Tele­graph, “Brazilian pho­tog­ra­pher, Daniel Botelho, 30, trav­elled to the Andaman Islands in the Indian Ocean after hearing sto­ries of islanders swim­ming with these giant beasts. He took these mag­nif­i­cent pic­tures all while trying to avoid being crushed.”

Rajah swims for approx­i­mately 10 min­utes every day.

Training ele­phants to swim took up to 10 years.

Rajah is 60 years old and weighs five tons.

“Replaced by motorised boats, Rajan no longer needs to swim miles between islands to work for his keeper. Rajan still swims for ten min­utes twice a day, com­pleting about 500 yards before heading back to shore.”

The article reminded me of how spe­cial and majestic ele­phants are.  Bring some ele­phants into your home. Take a look at the Clayton Gray Home ele­phant motif furnishings.

Jonathan Adler Ele­phant Salt and Pepper Shakers

20″ Purple Ele­phant Throw Pillow

20″ Orange Ele­phant Throw Pillow