Watch the terrifying moment a raging elephant destroys a tourist’s car after he blared his horn
The bull elephant then tosses the car through the air before flipping it multiple times
A Spanish tourist got the fright of his life when a rampaging elephant charged his car before rolling the vehicle over.
The unidentified tourist attracted the anger of the massive elephant after he blared his horns at a group of the animals on a drive through the Maputo Game Reserve in Mozambique.
Attempts to calm the herd failed and the largest of them – clearly enraged- flaps his ears before charging the driver’s car.
The elephant then picks up pace before tossing the car – estimated to weight over a ton – into the air and flipping it over multiple times.
Just before the vehicle is attacked by the angry beast, it’s driver can be heard offering up a brief prayer to god before saying “ai, jai, jai” as the elephant gets within striking distance.
The driver survived the attack, despite being heard to grunt in pain as he is tossed like a ragdoll around the interior of his car.
Despite being battered and bruised he did not leave empty handed, with a section of the elephant’s tusk breaking off leaving the driver with a memento of his near death experience.
According to Dr Marion Garai, chairperson of the Elephant Specialist Advisory Group (ESAG), there are various ways to see whether an elephant's charge is life threatening.
Surviving an elephant attack
Dr Marion Garai, chairperson of the Elephant Specialist Advisory Group tips during an elephant attack.
Determining if it's a mock or real charge
- Most charges are "mock" (threat) charges, the elephant is pretending to charge but is actually testing you out to see if you're aggressive or a non-threat.
- Watch the elephant's ears. If an elephant's ears are relaxed, he is probably making a mock charge. Ears that are fanned out are indicative of a mock charge.
- If the elephant's ears are pinned back flat, it is likely that the charge is real. This will often be accompanied by a trunk that is curled inward.
- Listen for warnings. You're likely to hear trumpeting of a warning from the elephant.
- Look for displacement activities. There are some other indicators of an elephant working out whether to charge or retreat. These include a twitching trunk and swinging one leg to and fro. The biologist responsible for discovering this, Dr George Schallar, realized that the more pronounced these "displacement activities", the more likely the elephant was making a threatening show out of fear and had no intention to really charge.