Photo: Africadventures / iStock / Getty Images
A group of tourists at Pilanesberg National Park, South Africa, had a terrifying encounter with a bull elephant on Monday (March 18). The safari truck was in animal hide so the tourists could get a better view of the wildlife when the bull elephant approached.
Poncho Mogodiri, field operations manager of Mankwe Game Trackers, the company running the safari, told ABC News that the tourists "came too close to the elephant to take pictures and he started getting aggressive."
Hendry Blom was standing nearby and recorded the moment when the bull attacked the truck, lifting it up in the air like it was a toy.
"We were definitely scared, especially for the people in the truck, because we thought they might die," Blom told ABC News.
The elephant lifted the truck several times while the driver revved the engines and shouted at the elephant to go away.
Video recorded by people in the truck captured their fear as the truck was lifted up in the air and slammed back down to the ground. Several people were hiding on the floor while one woman was praying.
Luckily, nobody was injured, and the truck managed to drive away as the elephant stared it down.