A canoe carrying British tourists was capsized and trampled by an elephant in a crocodile-infested river in Botswana.
The bull elephant charged at several canoes which were on a wildlife safari in the Okavango Delta on Saturday. It was believed to have been protecting its young after the guides steering the canoes misjudged how close they could get.
The canoes, known as mokoros, were carrying pairs of British and American tourists. Mokoro safaris are popular for spotting elephants, crocodiles, hippopotamuses and birds including herons and kingfishers.
Footage shows the moment the elephant charges at the boats and the guides begin to back-paddle frantically. The elephant knocks over the two closest boats with its trunk, tipping the tourists into the water.
The elephant approaches the canoes before flipping one over
Then the bull walks away, but further footage shows one of the elephants barging into a tourist who has been left wading in the water. The woman becomes submerged and the elephant appears to rummage around to locate her. Later she is shown emerging from the water, able to stand, as the bull, another adult elephant and two young walk away.
It is not yet known which tour company was running the safari, but one receptionist told the Daily Mail that the group was made up of British and American visitors.
The woman wades away as the elephants leave
NAMUSHANAWA NYAMBE/FACEBOOK
“There was a lot of expensive camera equipment and phones lost or damaged, but it is a blessing nobody was badly hurt, but wild animals can be very unpredictable,” she said.
• Two women died on safari last week — are these trips becoming more dangerous?
A former South African game ranger who was shown the videos said: “This bull attacked because it was protecting its young, and it seems the guides misjudged how close they could take the tourists safely and made a potentially fatal mistake.
“They had a very lucky escape indeed because all four could just have easily been killed by that angry bull.
• Launch of Uber Safari fuels overtourism fears in Kenya
“The woman was lucky not (to) have been gored, but if it had held her down for another few seconds, it would probably have drowned her, so she can praise the Lord he didn’t.
“There are thousands of these dug-out traditional makoro canoes on the delta, poling tourists through the reeds to view elephants, hippo, birds, buck and crocodiles.”
British tourists were involved in a similar incident in the area earlier this year, when a female elephant rammed a motorboat. It did not capsize.
Two female tourists, one from the UK and one from New Zealand, were also killed by a charging female elephant, which was with a calf, while walking on a safari in Zambia in July.