Bongani Yende had chosen to take his guests to the Rathlogo Bird Hide in the Pilanesberg Game Reserve. The guests had gotten out of the vehicle and were walking around the parking area, which his allowed. That is when Bongani noticed a massive bull elephant making its way to the hide’s parking area.
Understanding the behavior and visual telltale signs of elephants, Bongani saw that this bull was in musth. Elephant musth is a time when male elephants can get really aggressive and show increased interest in mating. Understanding that it could lead to a potentially dangerous situation, he managed to get four of his guests onto the vehicle while the other 15 were still in the hide and the parking area.
With very little time to make a decision, Bongani decided that to save his guests, he would need to get the elephant away from them. He revved the engine and drove directly at the elephant, hoping to scare it away from his guests. But this bull elephant was not interested in leaving and stood its ground.
The stand-off lasted for a few minutes. The guide would drive towards the elephant, and it would hold its ground. Then, after a while, instead of holding its ground, it would come closer and closer. Eventually getting to the entrance of the hide parking area.
The guide at this point began shouting and screaming, and the elephant tried anything to get it to move off. The elephant, on the other hand, took it as a challenge and took the vehicle head-on. He managed to lodge his tusks into the bulbar of the truck and, with complete ease, began lifting the truck.
The guests in the hide had a clear view of the truck as their guide, and four others were in the truck. The front tires of the trucks lifted off the ground, and the elephant kept lifting them higher. He lifted it to the height of his head, so much so that the guests in the truck could see the blue sky above!
Then he just dropped the truck, sending the guide bouncing around his seat. The four guests in the truck also went for a ride. But the guide remained composed and continued trying to get the elephant away. So, after he dropped the truck, the elephant had enough of the guide and the truck, so it eventually decided to move off.
