A Park Reborn: Charging Elephants | Nat Geo Live

( intro music ) There used to be more than 4,000 elephants in the greater Gorongosa area. And during the war, most of those elephants were killed. Hungry soldiers ate their meat. And traded their ivory for guns and ammunition. When it was all over there was only a few hundred traumatized elephants left in the park. People spoke of being charged and chased by elephants. And having terrible experiences with them. And, having spent a lot of time in my life with elephants, I thought, "Well, maybe by running away under those circumstances that the people were provoking the elephants to charge." I talked to my sister, Joyce, about it who by then had become probably the world’s leading expert on wild African elephant behavior. And she agreed. So, she came to Gorongosa to see for herself. The first thing she had to do was identify elephants in the population. And that meant taking photographs and then video so that she could study their behavior.

We both agreed that we wouldn't run away from charging elephants. And so I built this metal frame for my Land Rover to protect us. If I was wrong about the charging elephants. ( audience laughter ) And, one day I was out with Greg Carr and a ranger named Maveneco. And the elephants were eating these Acacia Albida seed pods they are like candy for the elephants. They just love them, and they were busy eating those things and eating all around the car while the babies played, and it was absolute magic. We never had an experience like this in Gorongosa with elephants. And, soon... or later the elephants moved on and it was late, and we had a long way to go back to park headquarters.

And on our way, an elephant had knocked this tree down across the road. And it was just starting to get dark. And so I flicked my lights on, and I bashed my way through the forest around the tree. And suddenly I heard elephants trumpeting on my left. And I looked up to see three big adult females charging straight at me. And so, I switched off the car and we all sat quietly while one of the elephants came forward. And she towered above the car. And she raised her trunk and she smelled us. And she gazed down at us through the bars of the open vehicle. I wasn't too worried though because it was normal. You know, it was only a matter of time before she'd just back slowly away and join the rest of the herd and we'd be free to go.

But she didn't. She just stood there. And time passed, and I started to worry a little bit. And then suddenly she lowered her head, and with the full force of her body, she slammed into the front of the car. She hit so hard that she blew the tire off the rim on the other side. ( audience chuckles ) And the protective body armor and the vehicle panels just collapsed. And simultaneously I heard this bang go off. And I didn't realize until later it was the sound of Maveneco's .458, which is a huge caliber rifle. You know, the bullets are like this. It's an enormously loud noise. And the elephant backed away. He shot a warning shot over her head, and she backed away.

I thought it would be a good idea to give her some more space. So, I turned the car on and I backed up a little bit. At which point she put her head down and charged again, and this time straight between the headlights. And with my hands on the wheel, she drove us backward with her head pressing against the bars in front of me and they buckled. I kept trying to steer the car. But I had zero control. I didn't want her to spin us sideways where we would easily flip and she'd just pummel us. But she drove us backwards, and we slammed into a tree, at which point Maveneco shot another... shot at point-blank over her head. And she backed away again, this time into the forest.

So, I pulled the car back out onto the track and we jumped out to try to change the tire. At which point she charged again... ( audience laughter ) And Maveneco fired his last warning shot. They're given three warning shots. Luckily she never came back. My car was a wreck. ( audience laughter ) But the bars had held and no one got hurt. I was devastated though. My confidence with the elephants was completely shattered. And I was no longer willing to hold my ground against charging elephants.