In my job as mechanical engineer I have seen too many material failures to accept that the roller coaster is "100% safe". Yes, I do ride the roller coasters, but it scares me every time, cause I know enough to recognise the risks. Even flying makes me wonder about the reliability of critical components.

When I walked one of those hiking trails in the Kruger some time back, I expressed my discomfort to my brother-in-law (walking with me) several times. Although we had a good guide, I still did not have that same na�ve feeling of total safety that the other city slickers showed on their faces.
In this morning's THE STAR is an interesting article of what happened yesterday on a trail in the Kruger. An unprovoked charge forced the guide to drop an elephant, apparently close shaving a British tourist.
Elephants are wild animals.
Lochi

Can you post the article?

I do agree with you. The casrelesness I observe everytime I am in a park by tourists/visitors to these wild areas is just incredible! A lot of countries do not have a qualified guide training course and those that do, mostly have a very poor curiculum! Having an armed guide on a bush walk often gives a false sense of security. If anyone has ever seen the brochures of photo camps in Bots, they will often come across photos of smiling tourists on foot a few yards (yes yards!) from a wild elephant with nothing in between them then a few blades of grass or bush. Oh, but there is a guide with a big gun nearby so what's the problem? And the ele's in Bots parks are really quite friendly! Accident waiting to happen i'm afraid.....

a couple of years ago there was an incident involving a "friendly" elephant that always came to greet tourists at a local lodge in Ruaha National Park. This (and other) elephants even have nicknames! So when this boy decided to wander through camp, a client decided he was so gorgeous and "friendly" that she would follow a few feet behind him and observe. Well she would know better now if she were still alive as the ele creamed her wihtout a second thought....

That is why we call them "wild animals"

I always shake my head at tourists that want to pat a roo. I've seen one of these kill my wifes dog. Every year you hear a story of a roo that has attacked a person. amazing.

I was once with a group of tourists in the middle of the Okavango Delta.

We were dropped off at an island in the afternoon. Made a rough fly camp. No one but us tourists. The next morning the boats came back and we went on a walking tour, with a couple of local guides. No firearms at all.

Another time was on a private farm in Zambia on the Zambezi. The guide did have a .460 but it was locked into a trunk. There was an insane elephant that used to chase the staff and any guests around the camp when he felt like some fun. At the time he had never caught anyone so they didn't know what he would do when oneday he did.

Here's the article.< !--color-->



Tourist in close shave with tusker
March 10, 2004

By Ndivhuwo Khangale

British tourist John Anslow is a very lucky man. The elephant which nearly killed him was not as fortunate.

"At that moment, I thought I was dead," said Anslow, whose life was saved by a single shot fired by a Kruger National Park (KNP) tour guide yesterday, moments before the elephant would have finished him off.

Anslow, of Staffordshire, England, was part of a group of mainly foreign tourists who were on a day walk in the wilderness at the KNP with two field guides, Gordon Ramsden and Mphandeni Nthangeni, when the elephant charged at them.

Ramsden said they were on the banks of the N'waswitshaka River, about 15km from the Skukuza camp, when he saw a breeding herd of elephants close to them.

"To be on the safe side, we re-briefed our tourists on elephants' behaviour and requested that they stick close to us.

"Suddenly, out of nowhere, an elephant charged us from behind and the group split up. Some came with me and the others went with Mphandeni.


"The elephant came past me and brushed two of the tourists before turning around on one of them," Anslow said.

Anslow, quoted by the KNP, said the elephant was virtually on top of him when he heard a gunshot, and saw the huge animal slumping to the ground to the right of him.

The elephant had been shot in the head and died instantly. It was unclear which of the guides had fired the fatal shot.

"I owe my life to the quick action of the KNP guides and I'm relieved that they are so well trained," Anslow said.

He was taken to a doctor, where he was treated for minor injuries and released.

It is not known why the elephant charged at the tourists, but it is believed that it could have recently lost a calf.

http://www.star.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=129&fArticleId=370469

Kruger get a meadow muffin tourist or two every year and Africa gets more than a few every year...Last year in Kruger a Lion got one and ate him...Crocs always get someone that wonders to close to the water, last year it was at Mana Pools and crocs got an Idaho teenage girl and on and on...It seems they never learn.

Same thing happens here. Every year in Yellowstone a tourist is either killed or hurt attempting to pet the nice bear, ride the pretty bison or swim in the nice warm water. I appreciate their election to leave the human gene pool.

"The elephant had been shot in the head and died instantly. It was unclear which of the guides had fired the fatal shot."

How could it be unclear?

You know what the really scary part is??? Having to rely on someone with unknown shooting skills and the only rifle to save your ass!

No wanderings on foot in the African parks being a tourist for me.....if I'm on foot in the African bush I'll be hunting!

This elephant story relates specifically to the worldwide "bliss ninny phenomenon."

It doesn't matter which country, the "bliss ninnies" troop out into the boonies with no care, no knowledge of the environment or live or inanimte dangers therein, they meander along "being at one with Nature" steeped in denial thinking, "Nothing can happen to me/us, 'cause we're/I'm so nice and caring and compatible with Mother Earth and all creatures... and besides I/we have a cell phone."

Same for the bliss ninnies who venture out into the boonies with absolutely no knowledge of weather conditions, nor how to survive a bad situation in weather suddenly turned inclement. Besides, "survival" is a filthy word to the bliss ninnies. "No one but those unsophisticated right wing red neck reactionary gun owning milita types indulge in retro survivalism, do they?"

Bliss ninnies never learn. It isn't in their "Nature."

L.W.

"Bliss ninies", "Eco bunny huggers" and whatever else they might be called are accidents waiting to happen in the bush. We have seen more than our fair share of them in Africa. Quite often we were almost hoping that they would get chomped or stomped so they would understand they are at the bottom of the foodchain when fooling around with wildlife.
Unfortunatly their actions often create problems for other people and not just themselves...

Erik D.

www.dunia.no

Leanwolf,



"Bliss ninnies"!!!! I love it! That's the best term I've heard to describe 'em. And your descripton about how they meander along "being at one with Nature" steeped in denial thinking, "Nothing can happen to me/us, 'cause we're/I'm so nice and caring and compatible with Mother Earth and all creatures... and besides I/we have a cell phone."< !--color--> is great. And it's so true too!



I was on a photo trip in Botswana in '98. Had a couple from New York City in the truck (an open vehicle) with us. We got up VERY close (about 15 or 20 yards) to a Leopard that was on the ground in some bushes. And, the Leopard had been wounded from, apparently, some type of fight or something the previous night. There was an open wound near the Leopard's eye. He was not a happy Leopard. The NYC husband starts worrying about his camera exposure settings and started talking, rather loudly, to his wife to hand him a lense. The Leopard looks straight at him and starts snarling/growling very menacingly. Then the NYC guy starts to stand up in the vehicle so he could get a better shot! We had to forcibly grab him and sit him back down. Our guide/driver (an Aussie) backed the truck up and put some distance between us and the Leopard.



I was just amazed. This guy was so removed from nature that he acted like he was in a zoo or something and was just taking pictures of the pretty animals. I guess it just comes from too much urban living and only seeing or being exposed to animals on television.



BTW: That was the only Leopard I have ever been close to and, I'm not ashamed to admit, it gave me the willies!



-Bob F.

I was in Etosha NP, Namibia when we located a pride of lions over a water hole waiting for the warthogs to get thirsty, we counted 13 lions in a 150 yard radius of the water hole. Other folks started coming in watching the lions. One person actually got out of their vehicle and walked to the front of it in order to get better pictures. What, are they nuts?

BigBullet

Yes they are nuts.

I have an uncle who was a guide in the Chobe, Botswana for 20 or so years. He has encountered a situation close to the one described, but he was on a small island in a river without a gun. He is some how still alive after that charge. I always get a good laugh about how his tracker went up to the elephant with him saying he new this elephant and after the charge the tracker was 200 yards away.

Sevens

I've been to KNP twice, and both times it was my understanding that getting out of your car was forbidden unless you were at one of the rest areas or camping areas. The rest areas are shut down at night and the camping areas are fenced to keep the animals out. Based upon the lions I saw, not to mention elephants, it seemed to be a good idea.

When did they start the practice of letting tourists walk around in the park?

Where is this permitted and under what circumstances? Ku-dude

I think that the walking in KNP is done alot at night, by the Mozambique peoples sneaking into RSA. The locals say that the predators line up along the border every night, waiting for the next meal.

We get this alot..

"If you leave the bears alone, they will return the courtesy."

Hell. most of the time it's true, but...

Both black bears and grizzlies kill humans every year in BC. I still canot understand why people thinkit is a good idea to go afield without SOME defense system, even pepper spray.

I have seen tourists get out of thier car and RUN AFTER black bears, grizzlies and moose.

I admit I am guilty of this, but I have a pretty good background wiht these animals..

I've run into people while hiking in bear country that questioned my guns..."What are you afriad of?" Well...nothing. I've got a gun and I know how to use it... Why should I be afraid?

They don't really get it...

If I was mucking about in Africa, I'd be damn sure thast there was a proper rifle, and a proper shooter available.

I have spear-fished all along the South African coast, in-shore and off-shore. In all this time I have had confrontations with many sharks, amongst other Great Whites. (Note I said "confrontations", not "attacks").
I do not bath in the shallow surf off the beach together with all the holiday makers. Friends say I am a coward, and they are right. When I can see clearly underwater and have a speargun in my hands, I'll dive any place. But standing in chest deep water not knowing what's below, is simply not for me. I have seen too many of those biggasharkus bitasorus creatures in the shallows to be that naieve.
Lochi.

We have them here in Hawaii too. A few years back had a lady swim right into a feeding frenzy of tiger sharks. She told her friend on shore she was going to go swim with those dolphins. She became desert for the tigers. Tigersharks feed at river mouths after a heavy rain on carrion washed down into the ocean. These rivermouths are prime surf breaks. Locals know NEVER surf the river mouths after a rain. Visiting surfers are bitten very regularly even after being warned. 95% of Hawaii shark attacks are due to the stupidity of the tourist, or short time resident.
And they wonder why we locals call them "sharkbait".

Quote:

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I have spear-fished all along the South African coast, in-shore and off-shore. In all this time I have had confrontations with many sharks, amongst other Great Whites. (Note I said "confrontations", not "attacks").
I do not bath in the shallow surf off the beach together with all the holiday makers. Friends say I am a coward, and they are right. When I can see clearly underwater and have a speargun in my hands, I'll dive any place. But standing in chest deep water not knowing what's below, is simply not for me. I have seen too many of those biggasharkus bitasorus creatures in the shallows to be that naieve.
Lochi.

---

The probability of shark attack is extremely low. The waters of South Australia are probably the best place in the world to find the White Pointer Shark. Well that was the opinion of the producers of the movie "Jaws" anyway which was filmed off Port Lincoln in South Australia.



There are shark attacks every now and again but the probability is extremely low. Far higher chance of being killed in a car accident on the way to the beach.



Its funny to read that some people equate walking in the African bush without a rifle with certain death. Maybe too much 'Crapstick' . If this was the case there would be zero "bunny hugger" tourism to the continent. In addition there are vast areas of Africa denuded of wildlife with most black Africans having never seen a lot of the game we take for granted.



It was mentioned that people are supposed to stay in their cars in Kruger and the camps are fenced. Same with Hwange. I stayed in several camps and chalets in Hwange in 1994 and very enjoyable it was too. One particularly enjoyable was Nantwich in the more isolated Western end of the park. Just three chalets by themselves on the top of a hill unfenced. With a waterhole below. Lions came to that waterhole that night. Also some hides near waterholes all by ourselves for many hours. We were completely unarmed and yes you do play out scenarios in your mind if the unexpected happens. A guest book at Nantwich was interesting reading. A guest complained about the trees having been removed from near the chalets. A ranger responded "No, it was not us. It was the elephants!" (best said with a sonorous African accent)





Eventually to main camp arriving at nightfall before the gates are locked. Out chalet there was right beside the camp fence boundary. At night we shone our torches (flashlights) on the elephant herd browsing on the trees and bushes only 40 yards away secure in the knowledge of a secure fence between us and them. Next morning with daylight saw the fences were down and for many months, and down for at least 200 metres . Yes these camps are secure too and safe to wander around at night .(that was sarcasm BTW)



(PS Actually was armed as my hunting rifle was in my car the whole time, but dismantled into a hard suitcase, so not much use in an emergency. What else do you do with it when travelling for some time around a country? Even though it was tucked away amazingly we survived to allow me to BS another day! )

All I can say is that it is a wonder that it wasn't German Tourists

NitroX,

I also enjoyed sleeping in parks without fences around the camps etc. Which is the case for all the parks we were in in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Botswana. It definatly felt more like being in the bush, than when you're parked behind a tall fence... It all boils down to using ones head and being carefull. We had "interaction" with wildlife while sleeping in our tent several times, and as long as one stays cool, chances are that nothing bad will happen. And I totally agree that the majority of africa outside parks is without any dangerous 4 legged animals. 2 legged dangers on the other hand are in someplaces a bigger problem...

I think the fenced camp areas in southern africa can give many "city" people a false sence of security, So I prefer to have open ares where people must use their head and be responsible for their own actions.

Erik D.

www.dunia.no