When you’re in Chobe, on safari by boat or experiencing the bush up close with an experienced guide, encounters with elephants are far from scarce with the lush national park in Botswana being home to over 120,000 elephants. Sightings are frequent and often leave their mark.
This is the experience that a group of South African journalists – hailing from Fairlady, Rapport, Woman&Home, Good Things Guy and Getaway – all experienced while on safari in the Chobe National Park in January 2023.
An Instagram reel posted by Fairlady filmed by photographer Liza van Deventer shows a group of local journalists on safari in the Chobe National Park. Much of the video highlights the natural beauty of the wilderness destination, narrated by South Africa’s very own Good Things Guy, Brent Lindeque.
However, one section of the video details a nerve-wracking close encounter with a solo male elephant in the national park.
In the video, the elephant decides that the 4×4 vehicle carrying the group of journos is, in fact, a little too close for comfort.
The elephant weaves around the bushes where he was first spotted and pops up again, this time just a few meters away from the group. He begins to charge forward and in this moment, the vehicle stalls…
Watch the video shared by Fairlady:
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Despite the close encounter, the elephant does not pursue the vehicle any further, deciding to leave the group with a warning instead.
Brent Lindeque – founder of South Africa’s Good Things Guy – narrated the experience in real time:
“Right so that was incredibly scary. The elephant moved from where we saw it. It moved around the bushes. It was sort of ‘mock’ charging us and then our car stalled. As journalists, as we all should, we all moved from one side of the truck to the other.”
