Wildlife footage reveals Saturday's dangerous confrontation in Botswana, when safari participants encountered an enraged elephant mother defending her offspring. During the attack, one tourist was forced underwater, according to the New York Post.
The wetland excursion involving British and American visitors turned perilous after traditional mokoro vessels approached young elephants, triggering the several-ton parent's aggressive response, according to the Telegraph.
Video obtained by the Telegraph captures the moment when paddling guides couldn't retreat quickly enough, allowing the charging animal to strike two boats and send occupants overboard within seconds.
The moment an elephant charged at tourists in Botswana 🇧🇼 Okavango Delta on Saturday.
American and British tourists escaped after a bull elephant overturned their canoes and briefly held a woman underwater. She escaped with help from her husband. Credit: CNP pic.twitter.com/RCqSuFeOX4
— Weather Monitor (@WeatherMonitors) September 29, 2025
The retreating elephant stepped on a struggling woman, holding her beneath the surface while searching with its trunk before returning to the herd unperturbed, footage shows, though she escaped unharmed despite what a former South African ranger called near-fatal timing, telling the Daily Mail: "She was incredibly lucky. Had the elephant held her down for a few more seconds, or gored her with its tusks, the outcome would likely have been fatal."
Electronic equipment suffered extensive water damage while Africa's seven-ton giants continue facing human threats through illegal ivory harvesting despite international protections, the New York Post noted.
President Mokgweetsi Masisi defended lifting Botswana's 2019 hunting restrictions, citing concerns over population growth in the nation, which contains one-third of the global elephant population, following conservation achievements, according to the New York Post.
