Chased by a Baboon & Elephant in Africa~

On By cindy knokeIn Conservation, MY PHOTOGRAPHS, REVERIES, Sunsets, TRAVEL REVIEWS, Wild Life

Oliphants River Kruger National Park.

Curious Impala.

I never posted photos of the time I was chased by a baboon in South Africa because they were terrible photos taken in poor light conditions.

It all started peacefully enough, until some people started throwing rocks at the baboons because they were raiding campsites. They were raiding campsites because the same people didn’t properly lock up their food.

We were on a safe raised viewing walkway, behind electrified fencing that looked over The Sabie River in South Africa, as dusk fell, and the situation turned south.

Jim had just walked away. I was snapping a few last sunset shots, when a large furious male baboon, leaped the fence in the tree tops, jumped onto the platform in front of me, and ran directly towards me in a rage.

I moved rapidly backwards, not wanting to turn my back and run, clicking off a few shots as I moved away. A man in an adjacent campsite saw the whole thing and was doing jumping jacks and yelling, trying to distract the baboon. You can almost make him out in the upper right of the photo. I very much appreciated this man!

If the baboon had wanted to kill me, he clearly would have. He was thankfully content to raise my blood pressure and chase me away.

We also got charged by a furious male elephant on a prior trip when our game driver pointlessly harrassed him. If you look closely at the photo, you will see a male elephant in musk. He should have been left alone. We had to jump out of the range rover, face the elephant, while the ranger drew his rifle and prepared to shoot, causing the elephant to stop his charge.

Wise elephant. Unwise human.

We have luckily never encountered any similar problems when self driving on our two trips to South Africa most likely because we always respect wild animal’s space. We spent more than an hour waiting at a reasonable distance in our car, while we respected these guy’s space. It was awesome experience and they seemed to appreciate our restraint.

The moral of this story, don’t harrass wild animals, they are bigger and stronger than you.

Cheers to you from the civilized wild ones~

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318 thoughts on “Chased by a Baboon & Elephant in Africa~”

  1. I’m in awe that you managed to snap photos while being chased. I got into an encounter with a fox once in my backyard when I inadvertently got between her and her kits. (I didn’t see her kits until she started yipping at me.) Thankfully when I backed away she didn’t chase me, just gave me a good talking to!

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    1. It would be genuinely scary to get in the middle of a wild fox and her kits. I am glad you weren’t injured. It must be wonderful to have a fox family in your yard though! დ

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  4. ce sont de belles photos. Nous sommes allés en Afrique du Sud et revenus avec tant de clichés. C’est probablement un de nos plus beaux voyages. Si proches de ces magnifiques animaux sauvages.

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    1. Je suis tellement d’accord avec toi! L’Afrique est magnifique. Nous avons tellement aimé la première visite que nous y sommes retournés. Merci pour votre commentaire réfléchi.

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  5. Wow holy moly I can almost feel the adrenaline rush experience .. so happy it all turned out good and the photos dark or not show the scene as you express it and it’s amazing! So happy you’re both good!

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  7. Wow, way too much excitement for my blood. Those shots are pretty good considering the stress you were under. I’ll stay home and enjoy your pictures and stories, Cindy.

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  14. Missed this post. Never was charged by an elephant but I did have a close encounter with a baboon as a child… I’ve disliked monkeys ever since… LOL

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