THIS is the horrifying moment a mammoth elephant capsizes two British couples’ canoes and tries to trample them.
Footage shows the bull elephant charging at the four tourists – tipping them into the crocodile-infested Delta river in Botswana.
Jamie PyattFootage shows a Brit tourist being rammed by a bull elephant[/caption]
The group were on a canoe safari on the river DeltaJamie Pyatt
Jamie PyattGuides reportedly took the group too close to a herd of elephants[/caption]
The group were on a canoe safari when a male elephant, sensing they were too close to his herd, launched his fierce attack.
Four tourists – in two canoes – were flipped into the water as their two guides appear to run for safety on the riverbank.
Do you know this couple or were you involved in this incident? Email nicole.cherruault@the-sun.co.uk
Video shows the beast breaking charge before launching a second attack on one of the women in the group.
Ramming the victim with his trunk, he knocks her underwater and attempts to drown her – only narrowly avoiding her with his deadly tusks.
It’s understood she only survived thanks to the Delta’s murky water.
Unable to see his prey, the animal wanders off leaving the woman seconds to get to her knees.
Taking desperate gasps of air, she makes a quick escape with help from her husband who wades through the river’s reeds to rescue her.
Ex-South African game ranger, Kakwele Sinyina, who was shown the video, said the woman was lucky not to have been “gored”.
Not to mention attacked by one of the hippos or crocodiles that prowl the perilous waters.
Throwing shade at the guides, he added they had “misjudged” how close they could get to the bull and his family.
The error, he said, could have easily proven “fatal”.
He insisted: “They had a very lucky escape indeed because all four could just have easily been killed by that angry bull.
“The woman was lucky not have been gored but if it had held her down for another few seconds it would probably have drowned her so she can praise the Lord he didn’t.
“There are thousands of these dug out traditional Makoro canoes on the Delta poling tourists through the reeds to view elephants, hippo, birds, buck and crocodiles.
“This bull attacked because it was protecting its young and it seems the guides misjudged how close they could take the tourists safely and made a potentially fatal mistake.
“There could well have been the need for four body bags if lady luck had not favoured them.
“It will certainly give them a story to tell found the fire for many years to come”
Jamie PyattThe group were tipped into the water[/caption]
Jamie PyattThe woman was rescued by her husband who waded through the reeds to grab her[/caption]
He added: “Yo! If the elephant did not get them there are many crocodiles and big hippos there that could have killed them so they had someone looking over them”.
The terrifying ordeal comes just months after a group of tourists, on a boat river safari in the Okavango Delta, were rammed by a mum elephant.
The boat’s captain reportedly laughed as he advanced only metres away from the massive animal, joking he would speed off once it got too close.
But moments later, he was heard screaming as the beast violently charged the boat – momentarily throwing it in the air.
The tourists fell off their benches and dropped their cameras as the front of the boat torpedoed forwards.
Elephants, which are some of world’s largest mammals, kill an estimated 500 people every year in Africa.
Chief Executive Officer FC Conradie, the owner of one of South Africa’s top game reserves was horrifically trampled to death as he tried to move elephants away from tourist lodges.
The 39-year-old millionaire was reportedly mauled by a six-ton African elephant.
It is said to have attacked him with its tusks then stamped on him repeatedly.
Brit tourists were left horrified after a raging elephant protecting its baby charged their boat earlier this year