Angry elephant charges at camera crew in jungle

In search of wild elephant herds, our video crew was exploring the forest areas of Muthanga and Tholpetty in the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary. The daylong search finally met with success by evening, when the crew spotted one herd in the Tholpetty forest area.

The crew quickly swung into action and mounted the camera on top of the van that they were traveling. As they began to shoot the elephant herd, a jeep came in from the opposite direction from where the crew was standing. The movement of the jeep provoked a he elephant in the herd and he made a dash towards the jeep. The charging elephant was stopped couple of metres from the jeep, as the driver switched on the lights along with continuous honking. This practice of switching on the lights and sounding the horn is usually done to scare elephants, but may not work always.

The he elephant backed off into the forest and then made one hesitant move without success. Once the elephant was at a safe distance from the jeep, the driver moved the vehicle with great speed. But to the surprise of every one, the she elephant came back and gave one final charge at the jeep, which by that time sped away to safety.