Watch: Elephant Attack From a Survivor’s POV | National Geographic

After the last group of elephants had crossed the glade, the final elephant turned and began to ram towards us, ears flapping and trumpeting. This is usually a sign of a bluff charge from about 150 m away. Very unusual behavior. We started backing away, which is usually enough to show a displaying elephant that we've got the point.

Slowly at first and then faster as it became apparent that he was not going to stop until we were all running for cover. Glancing over my shoulder, I could see he was gaining on us and that I would likely be the first one he reached. So, I turned to face him, still running backwards and rumbling to calm him down.

The impact did two things: it turned the camera off and it sent me into a high-speed backward roll, being kicked like a football. One kick hit my hand and turned the camera on again, but it knocked it out of my hand. The video caught a few frames of me under the elephant as it flew through the air, then landed in the grass.

The mean team Rangers fired three shots in the air, and the elephant immediately ran away. Amazingly, x-rays in the nearest hospital showed no broken bones. But while I was recuperating, we had time to consider why this elephant, who we named Carly the Courageous, had run 150 m from a position of safety to tackle a perceived threat.

It seems that the herd I was filming had previous experience of poacher attacks and had been unnerved by the charcoal workers the previous day. On the day of the charge, hearing the locals shouting apparently led them to think they were under attack, prompting Carly to risk his life charging what he mistakenly saw as a threat to the herd.

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Awesome! Uhoh! Let’s go!