{"id":185939,"date":"2025-10-08T17:08:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T17:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/185939\/"},"modified":"2025-10-08T17:08:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T17:08:08","slug":"tourists-in-canoe-charged-by-elephant-in-wild-footage-speak-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/185939\/","title":{"rendered":"Tourists in Canoe Charged by Elephant in Wild Footage Speak Out"},"content":{"rendered":"

A group of tourists who were chased by an angry elephant while on a canoe safari in Botswana have spoken of the terrifying ordeal. Video footage from earlier this year<\/a> captured the creature stampeding after the tourist boat and almost capsizing it when they drifted too close to its young. \u201cThe first thought that came to my mind was, \u2018This is the end of me,\u2019\u201d passenger Jeff Melvin told ABC News. \u201cWe kept telling them that they were kind of getting a little annoyed at our presence,\u201d he recalled. \u201cAnd then just in the blink of an eye, things kind of changed.\u201d Fellow passenger Larry Unrein said the group did not initially see the elephant calves, which were hidden behind a patch of tall grass. After chasing the canoe, the elephant rammed it with its tusks, trampling on a female passenger as she tumbled into the crocodile-infested water. Guides said the woman was lucky to be alive. \u201cI thought for sure I was dead,\u201d Unrein said. \u201cAnd then once I was safe, it was just jubilation. I was very happy to be alive.\u201d<\/p>\n

An elephant charged at a group of tourists on a canoe safari in Botswana while trying to protect the herd\u2019s young calves. The tourists on the canoe — which flipped over — are speaking out about the incident: “The first thought that came to my mind was, ‘This is the end of me.”\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/eNuEwKUE5V<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7) October 7, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

Read it at ABC7<\/a>