SANParks.org Forums

I don't have an entry permit to hand, but it does have a whole section on how to behave around elephants, including breeding herds, males in musth, and how unpredictable they can be. I will save ours tomorrow when we exit the park, and re read it, and post here, unless someone else beats me to it!!

Maybe as visitors are handed their permit, they could be told to read it before entering rthe park..........that may help!!

I do not celebrate what has happened here , and thank goodness , the people involved were not seriously hurt , but you know , I do think somehow it is good that these incidents do happen from time to time , just to remind us all that wild animals are not to be trifled with , and that it can be really dangerous if you fail to keep your distance

We have all seen how often tourists misbehave around lion and leopard sightings , and it is only a matter of time before someone gets hurt very very seriously , however , lets also hope that it does not happen soon

People should check the facts before jumping to conclusions, a witness said the order of events was not as stated in these posts and the unfortunate victims may have been unable to avoid this troubled ellie.

These quotes are from the report from a newspaper in Britain quoting the SA resident who witnessed the event and from the British family members concerned.

"Eyewitness Vasti Fourie, who filmed the attack, said: ‘It happened so quickly. I’ve never seen anything like this and I’m sure they haven’t either.’"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... ZYZhrkRpjc


http://www.metro.co.uk/news/918095-ragi ... uth-africa

As a frequent visitor to Kruger I am well aware what to look out for but much has come from experience and observation of the signs usually given when animals are nervous about our proximity to their environment.

Hi all.

A lot of postings all over the web about this accident. I am actually the guy with the green cap in the pictures. I was follwing the bull for over ten minutes on the road behind him. We were the first to spot him. He was not in musth, but we stayed between 50 and 100m behind. The first car that got punctured was the American guy. He could and should have reversed. When we and a SA couple rescued the the british couple out of their car. We could hear their story, because no one had seen this happening. Thje bull came around the corner towards them and took them by surprise. They pulled over to the side of the road, but were to late to reverse....

Here's another one that happened recently in Kruger

A teenager bull showing of
Met them a few times
And gave them space...
Cant say the same for the maker of the video

The guy in that video was saying, "yeah, yeah, want do you want me to do you stupid animal, I"ve had enough now, I'm off....."

Clearly demonstrates that he had no clue how to behave around elephants and that educating tourists especially is an absolute must!

Thanks for the translation

The really stupid person was probably too busy putting the sighting on his Blacberry to realise the danger.

But to be honest, that was one of the most stupid animals I have seen in Kruger in a long time. One thing that people dont realise in a herd context, is that these little bulls are just playing, but one wrong trumpet, one wrong tone in his voice, the herd, with Matriarch in front would have killed the stupid animal in his car in no time. He was just lucky the ........... Eish, such ignorant dumb, gemors, makes me angry.

PS: I do think this video is marketing, misusing sensationalism, and I hope this is not the picture portrayed to foreign, or other tourists that does not have sufficient knowledge of what might happen in Kruger.

Don't think so, he was busy driving as seen in the film, and the other people were filming.
I asked him, he isn't on the site.
Not everything bad happens because of Latest Sightings....

Sorry, but I saw your Logo, and on this forum your avatar on the video Ossendryver, and I do think it is totally unresponsible to post such video's and not actually warn the people that will watch it that it is really dangerous, and could result in a human, be it stupid, to be killed.

Yes, lucky they got out, the people that was the start of this thread was not as lucky, I wonder what they will think of this sensationalist video withyour avatar .

With Power comes responsibility............

They said it's fine if it has the logo.

And if you read the description of the video, it does have the dangers in the description.

After many, many self drive trips to parks all over southern Africa in the last 13 years and several weeks spent living inside Hwange National Park, it is only now in the last year or so that I have started to feel more comfortable encountering elephants. This has only come with time and experience and getting to know the subtle (and not so subtle) body language/behaviour of these amazing animals. With this better knowledge we haven't become complacent or 'cocky' - rather we have become more cautious and more observant.
Nevertheless, there are times when we have come out of a gully or around a bend on a narrow dirt road to suddenly find ourselves confronted with ellies in very close proximity. That is when one needs to assess the situation in seconds and make the right decision. Easier said than done!

I think it would be much more effective to have the information about elephants which is on the entry permit, printed in large print on a simple white A4 sheet of paper with a very bold heading like: IMPORTANT INFORMATION - PLEASE READ BEFORE ENTERING PARK!!! A graphic of an elephant pushing a car over underneath the heading (that grabs the attention) and then the 'rules' or suggestions for visitors.

Everyone is excited to get into the park, like NOW!, and often don't take the time to read the permits This is just human nature.

If these were printed in the main languages of visitors, it would not be too onerous for reception staff to hand over the appropriate translation. I firmly believe that this would make more people stop and think seriously about their interaction with elephants and go a long way to educate park visitors more effectively - just saying

I thinks thats a brilliant idea.
They can use the photos of the elephant toppling the car over last week.
That will get their attention.