While touring around Samburu National Park, we had a couple of memorable encounters with the local elephants, who happened to be in musth. I have to say, this wasn't the first time we had been charged by bull elephants on our trip, but it was the most exciting!

We had been sitting quietly in a wooded area down by the river, watching a couple of giraffe browsing, when suddenly a raucous started to our left. A cow came running from the tree line barking. Everything after this point gets a little fuzzy, as the adrenaline had kicked in. My husband and I remember things a little differently, but the gist of the situation was that a bull came quickly chasing behind. At some point the elephant decided that we were more interesting to chase after than his female counterpart. He took off after us, after we had barely gotten our engine fired up. Because we had strayed from the road (probably not the smartest idea) our escape routes were limited. Our driver (not one of our normal guides) took off in the only direction we could go and managed to take us over a hole the size of the Grand Canyon. Fortunately, we were able to keep going, and somewhere in there, the bull's attention was directed elsewhere. I ended up with a few bruises, but no worse for the wear and I have to say that this was what I considered the trip highlight.
--Jolene zooguru@cox.net
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