"Ghost of Faro"

The Derby eland is a mythical animal, and encountering it leaves a mark. It has even become a passion for some. Such is the case for my client who commissioned this painting.

It was in his company that I set out on the trail of the Derby eland in the Faro reserve in Cameroon. Taurotragus derbianus is the largest antelope in Africa and is today classified as 'vulnerable'. Little known to the general public and far from the superficial concerns of armchair ecologists, it owes its survival in the wild today solely to the relentless fight against poaching carried out and financed by conservationist hunting companies.

It took long hours of walking, more than ten days in all, to have the chance to observe the 'Ghost' — as it is also known. For the Derby eland does not allow itself to be approached easily; the females, standing sentinel, watch from every direction, and the slightest sound or scent sends them galloping away, putting an extra two to three hours' walking between us.

In the end, I wished to immortalise in this painting, first and foremost, the fleeting vision of this elegant Giant glimpsed between the trees of a heavily wooded savanna. Then I tried to convey the atmosphere of end of day, at the close of an exhausting day of tracking — a moment of almost unreal magic. Finally, I hope this painting transmits the excitement and emotion that were mine in that intense moment when I encountered the 'Lord Eland'.