Viral video: Driver remarkably saves lives as elephant chases vehicle in Kabini

Recently the sighting of wild animals in areas where people live is growing. It is not very surprising considering that humans are continuously encroaching their territory. As these incidents become more and more common, it is also not very shocking to see instances where these encounters turn violent for the animal or the human beings. A recent viral video proves exactly this, where an elephant can be seen chasing a safari vehicle. Given how big elephants are, one can easily guess the destruction they would be able to cause to vehicles and human beings.

The video of this horrifying incident was shared by Supriya Sahu, IAS on her Twitter account. She is mentioned in the caption that the incident occurred in Kabini Nationwide Park, close to Mysuru.

In this video, a wild male elephant is seen charging aggressively in the direction of a Safari jeep. The Safari jeep seen here in the video looks like a Mahindra Bolero that has been modified for this purpose. There is a path built inside the national park for guests who want to tour the area. The elephant was standing in the middle of the road when the Bolero reached the spot.

When the driver saw the elephant running towards the vehicle, he put the jeep in reverse and started backing away rapidly. The elephant got dangerously close to the vehicle, and the trunk and tusk of the animal touched the bonnet of the jeep a couple of times as well. However, the driver managed to keep his calm. The short video shows how skilled the driver really is, as he kept driving the car in reverse while looking into the outside rear-view mirror. It is important to note that drivers of such safari vehicles are trained to handle dangerous situations like these as they are constantly driving through a territory that belongs to wild animals.

After chasing the Bolero for some distance, the elephant suddenly stops and immediately moves into the jungle. The driver stops the jeep as well to ensure that the elephant was actually moving away. Tourists were present inside when the elephant chased the vehicle at Kabini and they can be seen at the end of the video, absolutely terrified and trying to wrap their head around what had just happened.

Why did the elephant chase the vehicle?

Elephants are generally not very aggressive creatures. So what made this particular tusker act the way it did? Apparently, the same elephant was seen other safari vehicles as well. Wildlife experts believe that this could be the result of something called “Musth”. Musth is a natural phenomenon observed in healthy adult bull elephants. This is characterised by the secretion of a hormone rich substance called temporin from the temporal gland which are present on either side of the elephant’s head and a steady trickle of urine down the back legs of the elephant. Musth involves a rise in the reproductive hormones in the elephant’s body. This causes the animal to feel more restless, energetic, aggressive or unpredictable – and generally irritable and oversensitive to sounds and movements.

Watch the video uploaded by Supriya Sahu, IAS here:

I am told this is in Kabini ! Hats off to the driver 🫡 deft handling of the situation with a cool mind is commendable. Source- shared by a friend pic.twitter.com/rfCQbIjK1T

— Supriya Sahu IAS (@supriyasahuias) September 8, 2022