Tourists left shaken after elephant throws car into ditch at KZN’s Hluhluwe Imfolozi Park

A pleasant day in the bush turned into a nightmare for two tourists at Hluhluwe Imfolozi Park, in KwaZulu-Natal, on Wednesday when an elephant attacked them while they were inside their car.

The bull elephant reportedly threw their car into a ditch on the side of the road.

According to Ezemvelo Wildlife spokesperson Musa Mntambo, the man driving the car noticed the elephant walking on the road towards their car. He said the large mammal looked relaxed.

The tourists, who asked not to be named, said they moved the car, a Ford Figo, to the side of the road to let the animal pass.

“As the elephant walked toward the car, it somehow decided to acknowledge the presence of the Ford Figo by just laying its trunk on the bonnet. As this was an unexpected action by the elephant, the driver tried to extricate his car from the situation. The elephant, however, did not appreciate the driver’s behaviour,” said Mntambo.

Mntambo said the animal reacted by smashing its tusk through the passenger’s window. It then lifted the car and threw it into the ditch.

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The angry elephant wasn’t done yet.

“As if that was not scary enough, the elephant continued to push and attack the car’s rear before deciding it was not worth it to waste its energy on an object that did not retaliate, so it backed off,” said Mntambo.

Luckily for tourists, a field ranger, Velenkosini Musawenkosi Ntombela, was on scene and fired a warning shot to scare the elephant away.

After the tusker had left the scene, the tourists were able to get into an Ezemvelo Wildlife vehicle. They were then driven to safety while their car was towed away.

Neither of the tourist were injured in the attack.