When we got out into the park in the morning, we wandered around for a few miles looking for wildlife. Jim encountered a giraffe and got out of the bus to take a few photos. We had been cautioned about not leaving the vehicle. So I was somewhat concerned that Jim not be out of the car for very long.
We then began to turn the vehicle around to return to the lodge. At that point, we saw a herd of twenty or thirty elephants of various ages’ right in front of us about fifty feet away. I enjoy seeing wildlife in its natural element, but this was more wildlife than I was prepared to encounter up close. I urged Jim to hurry up and get the bus turned around so we could get back to the lodge.
At that point, we got stuck in the middle of the road. I was trying to take movies but was having trouble as my hand was shaking so much. (Watching these videos later was almost impossible due to my trembling hands.) The elephants were now much closer, and two were charging each other. I expected them to charge us at any moment. Jim was obliged to leave the vehicle and try to push it with me behind the wheel urging him to speed it up. He was not able to budge the bus one bit, no matter how hard he pushed. The elephants were getting closer and I was getting more nervous.
This was when the park ranger came to the rescue. He got out of his jeep and helped push us back on the road. After receiving a stern warning from the ranger about never getting out of the vehicle, we returned to the lodge and heaved a big sign of relief. We had survived a close up encounter with a whole herd of elephants and lived to tell the tale.
