A film crew in South Africa got more action than anticipated when a young female elephant came charging during a shoot.
While filming in the Limpopo Province on Oct. 27, wildlife photographers for Black Bean Productions were approached by an enraged elephant, who rammed into their Jeep and tried to flip the vehicle with her tusks. The crew kept filming as their guide desperately drove in reverse to escape.
“We came across what seemed like quite a distressed breeding herd of elephants. So we decided to try and keep our distance from them, some 20 or 30 yards away,” James Suter, 29, who was directing the shoot, told Barcroft Media. “Unfortunately one of the female elephants decided that she wasn’t happy with where we were and came at quite a speed charging towards the vehicle.”
The crew managed to intimidate the animal by standing up on the Jeep, leading the elephant to back off.
Although much of their camera equipment was damaged in the attack, none of the team members were hurt. Elephants are typically good-natured animals and Suter suspects that the herd was unsettled before the crew arrived.
“When working in the African Bush, you can never predict animals’ behavior,” Suter said.