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Sand Bath, Zambezi River, 1996

A baby African elephant takes a sand bath along the banks of the Zambezi River, where poachers wreak havoc on the elephant population. Armed with AK-47s, poachers hunt adult male elephants, cut their heads off, then hack away at their tusks leaving the massive bodies to the vultures, hyenas, and lions.

(Text adapted from and photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Down the Zambezi," October 1997, National Geographic magazine)

Photograph by Chris Johns