Amarula commissioned Ice Art to produce the sculpture, created by Matt Smyth. Working from a sketch, it took him two days to carve the animal, using 16 ice blocks of 150 kgs each. Once completed and the excess ice removed, the elephant clocked in at a cool 1.5 tons. Before leaving the ice room, it had to be dismantled into three sections for transportation and took a team of eight to reassemble on site.
Standing 2.6 metres high at its highest point, the sculpture was still intact and glistening at 5am on New Year's Day, 12 hours after its installation, according to Ice Art director, James Cussen.
Elephants are closely linked with the brand, which is also a major supporter of research into elephant behaviour with findings applied in elephant conservation strategies in Southern African state-owned and private game parks.
For the past decade, the brand has been funding the Amarula Elephant Research Project, managed by Prof. Rob Slotow of the KwaZulu-Natal University (UKZN). This has become recognised globally as an authority on the behaviour of African elephants and attracts international and local academic researchers of the highest calibre.
