At Kruger National Park, Nicki Coertze photographed a pink elephant, an extremely rare phenomenon simply known as an albino African elephant.
A tourist at Kruger National Park in South Africa captured images of an extremely rare phenomenon that is more popularly known for being a hallucination by the intoxicated: a pink elephant.
In reality, what Nicki Coertze photographed through the car window was an albino African elephant wandering with its mother among a herd of elephants drinking from the Shingwedsi River.
"Some of the shots show it framed by the legs of another elephant, you can really see the contrast in color between the two as the calf shows off its unique pinkness beautifully," she told Caters News via Daily Mail and New York Post.
"I was really hoping the pink ellie would play in the water a bit, and wash all the dirt off, so we could see him in all his pinkness."
Coertze, 58, of Polokwane, South Africa, has been visiting the famous Kruger National Park since her early childhood, spending up to 30 days each year in the park. But she had never seen an albino elephant before.
"And then, none of my many friends have either," she said. "So bearing that in mind, I have an idea that this is a once in a lifetime sighting for me.
"Albino elephants are renowned to not have strong eye sight. Not one of my images shows the eyes wide open. They tend to have pink eyes that are very sensitive to sunlight.
"Amazingly, I think we were the only ones excited about the albino elephant. As far as the rest of the herd was concerned they seemed to just accept him in their stride."
