Elephants love water and hosing themselves down to keep cool, but it is very unusual to see an elephant swimming in the sea.They naturally do not like sea water but in the Andaman Islands, off the east coast of India, ten elephants were taught to swim so that they could carry logs between the islands.
That was in the 1970s – now only three of those elephants still survive – two have been returned to the wild and no longer swim, which leaves only one seaborne elephant called Rajan. Extreme sports and underwater photographer Jody MacDonald went to Havelock Island in the Andamans specially to swim and photograph Rajan. She spoke to Outlook’s Candida Beveridge.
