B.C. man’s elephant selfie in Thailand goes viral

VANCOUVER – Call it an elephant selfie or an ‘elphie’, but it’s capturing the attention of media around the world.

Christian LeBlanc and his girlfriend Laura Reid, both from White Rock, have been travelling in Asia for the past few months. LeBlanc is a University of British Columbia student, studying abroad in Thailand, who has completed his studies and is now exploring that part of the world with Reid.

The photo that is generating so much attention was actually taken about two months ago on Koh Phangan Island. LeBlanc and Reid were staying on the island for the full moon party.

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“I was taking photos and feeding the elephant bananas until I ran out of bananas and the elephant grabbed my Gopro while the camera was set to ‘timelapse’,” said LeBlanc in an email interview. “This allowed the camera continuous shooting and enabled it to take the ‘elphie’! Couldn’t believe it when I saw how well the photo turned out.”

After being picked up by international media, LeBlanc is happy to share his travels on his Instagram account.

LeBlanc and Reid are currently in the Philippines and still plan to visit Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia and maybe Japan.