An astonished group of visitors was charged by a curious elephant right in front of them.
John Lucas, 47, and his wife were visiting the Knysna Elephant Park in Plettenberg Bay, South Africa, with their son when they caught this amazing footage.
He described how he and his wife were frozen in terror as their guide warned them not to flinch.
According to John, the animal was terrified by the three strangers’ giggling.
He strolled over to inspect things up close before blustering them to ensure everything was all right.
Despite John and his wife’s terror, the trio stood their ground and didn’t budge.
The elephant then halted as it realized they wouldn’t be able to flee.
John said. ‘We had remained behind after the tourist bus departed, so it was just us and the guide.’
We were chatting and giggling, which caught the elephant’s attention because it was something it hadn’t encountered before.
I snapped a photo of him while he was charging.
I was afraid to move because I wasn’t sure if it was on or not, but I didn’t want to touch it.
When we got close, our guide whispered to the elephant and reminded us not to move, which was difficult to do – my wife even hid behind the guide.
The elephant gazed at us for a little while after the footage concluded.
She said. ‘But it ran away into a herd of zebra when we didn’t join in.’