No question in my mind. Really stupid.

https://youtu.be/Hbdp64atFJk

Amazing video...but the elephant could as well have stomped him...you never know..!

Very foolish to take a chance like that...maybe he had a death wish..??

He knows the elephant by name.

We were in a park in South Africa and at lead6 one elephant put his trunk inside our truck.

Same happened in Kenya too.

Agreed.

It depends on a variety of factors such as individual animal, person(s) involved & several other factors.

I've been that close to elephants (mostly) where we knew each other & my friend & very good PH Jason van Aarde has been closer to elephants he knew well on many occasions.

Another example is Randall J Moore who had/has Abu's Camp in Botswana.

I will say though that being that close to elephants is very exciting indeed.

That would have left a bad smell in my pants.....

Looks like a lion maybe had a go at him (the elephant) in the past.

My wife and I had a run in with an elephant bull in Etosha in 2012. A herd of ele’s blocked the roads ad just west of Halali Camp. We put the rental car in park and let them pass at about 75 yards. The herd bull decided he didn’t like us and charged head on at 75 yards. I slammed the car in Reverse and floored it. He actually gained on us, but gave up chasing after 150- 200 yards. Scared the crap out of us.

Hey, 9 times out of 10 it works...

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Labman:
No question in my mind. Really stupid.

https://youtu.be/Hbdp64atFJk[/QUOTE
MmJPS

JPS

It looks neat until something clicks the wrong way in that elephants head.

Obviously a really calm animal at that point. But I’ve seen them go from calm to aggressive for no apparent reason. No good reason to get that close and interactive with wild animals...

quote:

Originally posted by crbutler:
It looks neat until something clicks the wrong way in that elephants head.

Obviously a really calm animal at that point. But I’ve seen them go from calm to aggressive for no apparent reason. No good reason to get that close and interactive with wild animals...

Let anyone try that shit when its testosterone levels are high.

Definitely a calm ele, but that can change in an instant. The more prudent coarse of action would have been to back the vehicle up a safe distance and not have the close encounter. This type of up close and personal is more an Ivan Carter specialty, who does really know how to read an ele temperament.

That El did a lot of scent gathering.
if there were any lion scent or perhaps gunpowder scent, it could have changed the el's temperment.

Guys,

When I watched the video the thought that came to me was that I might have been filled more with a sense of wonderment than fear if it had been me. What an extraordinary experience that must have been to be smelt all over by that elephant. I'm probably nuts but that's how I felt.

Mark

If one has hunted trophy elephant, he has been damn close to them, say perhaps under 10 ft. Many are shot at 10 to 15 ft. They are as dangerous at 10 ft. as they are at trunk level, if they decide to stomp you..and the ones you are hunting are not the park elephant these guys play with..

They say that "familiarity breeds contempt". It also has resulted the death of more than a few "experts" who let an elephant get a little too close.

With any animal, you just never know when a "bluff" attack turns into a matter of life or death.

I believe even the animals don't know, they just react.

BH63

He has a great amount of experience with elephants.