03/09/2020
YOU ENCOUNTER AN ELEPHANT ON A SELF-DRIVE SAFARI. DO YOU STAY STILL OR ATTEMPT A RETREAT?
Paul and John were on their very first trip to Africa and were thrilled to go on a self-drive safari in Murchison Falls National Park in North-Western Uganda. They stopped briefly around the shores of Lake Albert to watch some elephants that had converged on the water for a drink.
While driving back to their lodge, they found their route blocked by a young bull. As surprised by their sudden appearance as they were by his, the bull planted his feet in the dirt and squared off with their car. The track was narrow and bordered by thick bush, so they couldn't go around him. Reversing back the way they'd come didn't appeal either, as they'd probably run into other elephants making their way back up the river bank. So, taking a deep breath, Paul turned off the engine of the car and they both went as still as they possibly could.
The elephant walked right up to the car and began waving his trunk over the hood, as if trying to make sense of them by sniffing. Then, as they watched, mesmerized and panic stricken, he dangled one big foot in the air in front of them and begun swaying it to and fro. What they did not know is that elephants actually "hear" through complex nerve endings in their feet, which can pick up vibrations over long distances, and the elephant may have just been trying to listen to them. Eventually, he lost interest in them, wandering off to munch on some nearby branches. Relieved, they started the car and slowly drove away.
Paul and Smith's approach worked in their situation because the elephant was calm and paused no real threat to them. But what if the elephant is irritated and charges angrily? Staying still could get you stomped into a metallic pancake, so a speedy retreat may be wiser. Which approach you take should depend on the elephant's temperament.
SO WHAT ARE THE WARNING SIGNS OF A PROBLEMATIC ELEPHANT?
While wild animals are obviously never completely predictable, there are some fairly reliable indicators that an elephant might be about to cause you some trouble, in which case you need to steer clear of it.
The animal’s level of irritation is the biggest warning sign, which is best assessed by the state of its ears. If an elephant’s ears are just flopping about, the way they do when it walks, then you’re on fairly safe ground – for now at least. If the ears have fanned out from the elephant’s head, as if they’ve just caught a strong gust of wind, then the animal is annoyed and may charge – though if it does, it’s probably going to be a fake charge (which will give you a fake heart attack). If the ears are pinned back, the trunk is curled in and/or the tusks are raised, it’s time to be somewhere else, preferably somewhere in another latitude.
Another thing to look out for is a thick secretion running down the side of the elephant’s head. This means you’re faced with a bull in musth, a periodic condition in bull elephants characterized by highly aggressive behavior and accompanied by a large rise in reproductive hormones. Needless to say, you should stay well away from an elephant in musth – the normal rules, if you can call them that, just don’t apply.
There’s no exact science at work here. When it comes to dealing with an elephant, you should expect the unexpected. But there’s no need to adopt an attitude of permanent near-panic either – calm decisiveness is your true ally in such situations.
