Watching this safari guide stare down a charging elephant and then back the animal up with a few choice words and gestures might be really impressive if not for a few things. Don’t get me wrong, it would take nerves of steel for someone not to just tuck tail and run if they saw this big beast coming at them with an obvious intent to trample. But notice a few things before you really start wetting yourself and you might find out that things aren’t quite as they seem. The guy might have 30 years experience as a safari guide and that should make him an expert on quite a few things, but it might have also saved his life more than anyone knows.
Read up a little bit on elephants and you’ll find out that they have two different methods of charging. One is a fake charge that is meant to intimidate and otherwise scare off whatever they perceive as a threat or an unwanted presence. The other is a full charge, which means that they’re coming whether you believe it or not.
The fake charge will have the elephant flaring their ears out wide and allowing their trunk to trumpet or else remain in front of them. A full charge will mean that their head is lowered and their trunk is tucked up and under so as not to damage it. That means that if you’re standing in the way the only thing that’s bound to happen is that you’re going to be crushed. That’s why this is not quite as impressive as people want to think. The safari guide, having no doubt seen a mock charge vs. a full charge in his three decades on the job, has already identified the signs of the charge and isn’t going to be intimidated by a bluff. It’s the equivalent of a schoolyard bully running at you while yelling and waving their arms in the air. They might look intimidating but they’re out to scare, not harm.
The same principle applies to the elephant in this case. The pachyderm could be mad that the guide is on his territory or could be just trying to assert his dominance, but there’s no true threat since he hasn’t lowered his head. The guide obviously sees this and is aware of what he has to do in order to keep the elephant from growing any more agitated. Waving his hands, shouting at the beast, and refusing to be backed off are good ways to get an elephant to back away as they might then realize that the object of their frustration isn’t moving and doesn’t intend to. It is easy to assume at that point if the elephant isn’t truly riled up that they might walk the other way and attempt to simply distance themselves from that person or animal.
So you see, from the start I wasn’t really impressed with this clip for a good reason. It was a show of aggression that wasn’t real because the elephant was for the most part just being kind of a showboat.
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