 |
| Elephant charge |
Ruaha National Park - Elephant Problem
Outbound to Iringa, May 28, 2024
By: George M
We had been having trouble with the right front wheel causing concerns. At about 16:30 with smells some thought were gas and some thought might be hot metal our driver decided that the vehicle could go no farther so we pulled to the side of the road.
 |
| Bad wheel bearing - mechanics replace bearing on site |
Some wandered a little down the road to investigate some noises coming from the direction of the river. They saw a troop of baboons screaming at a jackal, and a large fish eagle nest with at least one parent tending to it.
 |
| Looking at baboons while waiting on repairs |
Our drover Thadei had radioed for help and around 17:00 a truck drove up, stopped on our side of the road and two men got out. After surveying the situation they jacked up the vehicle, pulled the wheel , and replaced the bearing. They were almost finished the work when Onesmo, the driver of our other vehicle arrived to pick us up (around 17:30). As we returned we saw a large group of female elephants and their youngsters. A bit further along we saw a large bull elephant casually approaching. We pulled over with expectation that he would walk by but when he got within 10 meters of the vehicle he started to charge.
 |
| time to shift into reverse! |
The driver quickly shifted into reverse and the elephant chased us about 1Km - at elephant running speed
We were backing up fast, and we came upon another vehicle. We briefly stopped and our driver warned the other driver about the elephant. By then, the elephant seemed to have disappeared, so the other vehicle proceeded (down the road toward Ruaha Lodge, where we had been trying to go to). We followed the other vehicle but when we reached the area where the elephant was last seen, he came out of the brush to our right and got to within 3 meters of us as we accelerated past. (He appeared to have it in for us, and was waiting for us!?!?! We think he didn't like tan safari vehicles.)
We got to the dining room by 19:00 and were happy to be able to tell the story.
No comments:
Post a Comment