That One Time An Elephant Tried To Kill Us In Sri Lanka

I recently found some footage of our trip to Yala National Park in Sri Lanka.

We spent several amazing days in Sri Lanka’s interior before we finally made our way down to the island’s Southern coast.

Click here to read about Hiking The Sigiriya Lion Rock Trail in Sri Lanka

We decided to do an afternoon safari in Yala National Park to see if we could spot some wildlife – specifically Elephants or Leopards.

Turns out, we got a little bit more than we bargained for! (See the video below).

That One Time An Elephant Tried To Kill Us In Sri Lanka

The Charge

As you can see in the video, when the large bull male Asian Elephant approached us, something had already pissed him off before we arrived on the scene.

He was walking right toward us, slightly swaying and flapping his ears (both warning signs of elephant aggression).

Our guide quickly recognized the “big guy’s” agitation and threw the vehicle in reverse.  That’s when things got dangerous.

The elephant seemed like he was going to walk around the tree, during which time our guide calculated that he’d have enough time to drive forward with the tree between us for protection.

Turns out the elephant had other plans – he seemed to change his mind and commenced with a full-on “surprise” charge.

Although it’s hard to see just how fast he charged at us in the video, you can see the time it took the elephant to get from the road to the tree, then from the tree to the charge and to get his entire body back on the road. He barely missed us.

The Aftermath

After the charge, when we were safely out of the way, our guide threw the truck into park. His hands were shaking.

The guide from the other truck was like, “What happened man?!,” to our guide. They spoke uneasily in Sinhalese for a few moments, then our guide looked back at us and said, “elephant very mad,” in English.

Aside from the bull-elephant charge that got our adrenaline pumping, we had an awesome time in Yala National Park (and Sri Lanka in general).

I definitely hope to return to Sri Lanka and Yala one day…but I’m probably done seeing wild bull-elephants from two feet away!