Tourist Elephant
YouTube: Niël Van Der Walt

Bull Elephant Charges Safari Vehicle Full of Tourists

Africa is home to arguably the most diverse ecosystem on the planet, which includes some of the most dangerous four-legged creatures to ever live. When going down such a list of animals, you'd likely anticipate the big cat predators like lions, tigers and panthers, but many herbivorous animals in Africa are just as dangerous. While most people would use caution around rhinos, hippos, or cape buffalo, there's a good chance they'd underestimate the aggression of an angry elephant. It seems odd, as you'd think any creature that stands at nearly 10 feet tall would naturally demand some space, but occasionally, foolish tourists will push an elephant's boundaries a little too far.

We see this unfold in the following video out of South Africa, as a group of tourists were exploring some dusty dirt roads in the bush near Kruger National Park when a large bull appeared. The truckload of people clearly rubs him the wrong way, and results in a truly heart-stopping moment.

Watch the video here.

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Thankfully for these tourists, it seems that this was simply a bluff charge, meaning the elephant didn't want to attack the vehicle, but rather just scare it off. According to the video's description, the group's tracker sitting on the front of the truck "nearly wet his pants experiencing this deadly charge." Had this elephant decided to do some damage, it could've easily killed the man and possibly the tourists in the back. These African bush elephants are some of the largest land animals on the planet, so this group is truly lucky this situation didn't have a different ending. Did you hear all those tree limbs snapping and cracking as it headed back into the brush? It would be a frightening sound to hear if you were hiking along this desolate dirt road.

For more outdoor content from Travis Smola, be sure to follow him on Twitter and check out his Geocaching and Outdoors with Travis YouTube channels

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