[Jomz]

Should we switch off the lights or switch them on.. One trucker told me that when he comes across Elephans he switches the lights on and Revvs his 6L diesel.. The elephant thinks that it is some other bigger beast and runs away.. Even if it is that lone mad tusker. and he has a diesel free flow too. Or rather his exhaust pipes are soo rusted that the exhaust goes from blow the engine rather than through the tail pipe

[Harrie]

Switch off the light, keep the engine at idle. Dont rev it. Also switch off the music systems, cabin lights, strobes, neons and other bling blings.

Probably a trucker can get away with scaring a elephant. But we weeny guys in our cars and suvs cant probably get away with it.

[hydrashok]

Really good thread Harrie! Lots of interesting of eye-opening info here already!

Sam, you really have been around, haven't you?

[mclaren1885]

Leeches - Tiny little monsters they are. Slimy and operate with a lot of stealth. One will not even notice that they have crawled up and sunken themselves deep into your skin. They grow in size as they suck blood. If you spot one, dont try to yank it out of your skin. Instead, put a pinch of salt on it and see it trying to withdraw. If you don't have salt handy, use a lit cigarette. The leech will scram for its life. Who said smoking is injurious to health?

[Sam Kapasi]

WRT elephants. Let me tell you what I know.

Elephants are gentle creatures by nature and do not charge unless provoked. The simple reason they charge, is because it is the last line of defense.
The more threatened elly's feel, the more they feel the need to charge. Nature's defense, for an animal not quite designed to run away.

Though Asian elephants are much calmer in nature than African elephants, here's my simple tips, based entirely on experience.

Don't start honking and revving as soon as you see an elephant. What's your point? In most probability if you are passing thru, on a road, the elephant has seen many cars before, he will go about his business, please go about yours.
If for whatever reason, you must stop, switch the engine off, put your lights off and stay in the car. Don't scare the animal for pete's sake. It attacks BECAUSE it's scared of you, because it's threatened by you.

Best is not to stop. Please don't imagine that the gentle elephant will leave it's grazing and start running behind your moving car because it's mad. It's not a carnivore and animals don't act without reason. We do.

If you see an elly cow with calf. Get the hell out. Don't stop under any circumstances, keep moving away.

Harrie, well done mate, good thread and you've peppered it with great info.

[Sam Kapasi]

Originally Posted by rahul_intlad

Should we honk while going through areas with wild animals.

Not really. Remember you don't have to announce yourself, while driving. Animals, most wild animals in the jungle, have a keen sense of hearing and your engine will have already announced itself long before you honk.
On occasion you may NEED to honk, I will explain such situations in a few hours from now.

Please don't think that you're going to scare away a large carnivore by honking like a stork, lol. Startle the animal once, maybe, but not scare away.

[kvish]

Well, elephants are really majestic animals. But when they charge, they are take a totally different form!! Once in Kabini, an elephant started charging at our safari jeep (well it was an open jeep!! so double the tension). The driver just stay put. He asked us to keep quiet. It stopped suddenly and headed back. So being calm is the best thing to do and not to turn the situation to an uncontrollable one. But sometimes we dont know what we do when fear of such magnitude stares right on our face

BTW, I have one picture of what not to do. We were heading from Ooty to Bangalore via Bandipur and "wow" an elephant enjoying his meal right beside the road. But but but, what you are about to see in this picture is what should never be done. There were 3 gentlemen, all of whom were completely drunk. The fourth one was probably not even in a position to come out. He was driving too! They had parked the car in front of the elephant and got down. This guy was staring at the elephant around 20ft. I thought first it was a domesticated one, but there were no chains on it either. It was clearly a wild one.

Another bus in front of us just stopped beside this car completely blocking the road. This is another no no. We had nowhere to go. So decided to stay back atleast 50 feet and wait for bus to pass by. After that we just couldnt resist having a word with the brave souls. Guess what he said, 'aah it wont do anything, see it cant even come, there is a BIG pit and how can an elephant cross that one...showing us an 8 inch trench! (infact you can see it in the picture. I really wonder what they had to drink !) We didnt have the patience or the courage to get down and stuff them into their car. Hope they are safe.

[appuchan]

Harrie, congrats for an excellent article.

Regarding running uphill when you see elephant, actually its the other way round. Elephants are very slow when climbing down. Its very difficult for them to balance its body weight with a large head and heavy trunk.

[moralfibre]

We did a bike ride from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and I wish this thread was written before we morons ventured into the forests of Wayanad. Here is our experience quoted from another article:

We entered Kerala through the southern part of Wayanad district. This road took us through the Wayanad wildlife sanctuary. It was quite late at night, very dark, and there was absolutely no traffic. The road was so bad, it was worse than non-existent. There were half built and half collapsed culvert bridges with no warning signs, suddenly appearing boulders and mud heaps, girders, torsteel rods strewn here and there as well as various types of construction equipment lying around haphazardly. Potholes were craters rather than holes. And there were no warning signs of any kind. In a while I understood why.

We espied a huge boulder on the left, and we felt it moved. So the Qualis which was following the bikes, honked. The boulder moved faster and like, turned. It was a wild elephant, who raised his trunk and trumpeted. Panic! The Qualis driver stepped on the accelerator and the Novas zoomed while the others on the back seat of the Qualis quickly started winding up the windows. How stoopid! As if you can stop an elephant by closing the glass window! Ha! That's reflex action. Survival instinct. Programmed behaviour. No logic. Take a picture? Forget it! Run for your life! Don't waste time even looking back! That split second maybe the difference between tomorrow or never ever! In the event, Shri Elephant Maharaj did not think it was worth his while to give us chase. A short distance later we came upon a nearly collapsed bridge. It is a wonder the Novas did not fall into the river. Here, we did see a signboard, which said, "NO PARKING. NO WAITING. ELEPHANTS CROSSING. It seems that the educated elephants cross at this place. Obviously, the one that trumpeted at us was uneducated.

Kashmir to KanyaKumari (K2K) on Kinetic NOVA

How stupid were we!

[Sam Kapasi]

Shri Elephant Maharaj did not think it was worth his while to give us chase.

Exactly my point. Please do not discuss them as ferocious creatures, Elly's are beautiful and gentle. And very very intelligent. Also with an extraordinary understanding of emotion. Cross an elephant peacefully, with no mal-intention and mostly, they will do the same for you. Unless they misunderstand you.

It is my request to you, please do not scare them with your lights and horns and engines. It's wrong.

Originally Posted by Sam Kapasi

I have no Pictures of my desert scene Mcl

A situation I have remedied today. Time to pull out the old memories and the scanner.

Just thought I'll share it with you, since I'm am so full of myself lol.

Next: Tips on survival in Wild Africa.

[Sam Kapasi]

When you drive through a sparse forest, especially in the summer afternoon, you will find the great cats sprawled out, lying down with their bellies exposed and tongues hanging out.

This is mostly due to the lack of airconditioning.

Many have just eaten and have little or no energy, to be bothered with you. If you park your jeep and view them from afar, they may approach you.

Do not panic. Stay where you are. In fact, most cats don't even like to eat humans.

Notice the gait of the cat. If it is sharp, but not quick, with multiple pauses, the cat is just curious. Hold your ground, try not to get out of the Jeep. Don't think of the horrid movies or anything else. Stay calm and watch. The curiosity will pass. All animals sense fear, an instinct that is well honed. Don't have it and your chances of survival through any situation is very very high.

If it is a slow lazy amble, Mr. Lion's not interested in you. But what could he be interested in if not you?

You have something under the Landrover he wants. Shade.
The second most treasured thing in the Hot african summer. (The first is water, of course)

Turn the engine off and make no sudden jerky movements. You may find that sometimes a small pride of lions may try to wriggle under your car. Some may push each other and even snarl. Panicking and starting the car to make a run for it, is not the answer.









The key here, is to simply wait. Never Panic.

After about an hour of mixed feelings, a certain peace will settle over you. Then you will feel sleepy too. Roll up the windows and sleep. Touch the floorboards and you will feel the warmth of the lions' bodies. It is an indescribable joy. Listen to them murmur and yowl, yawning and generally chilling out. Go to Sleep, preferably on the floorboards of the rover.



When the sun sets, the cats will move on and so should you.

Jungle Survival 101.

[Sankar]

Nice thread Harrie. Sam, you should've been a Nat Geo lensman and narrator

[moralfibre]

x 2 Sankar. Sam the last pic is brilliant. Seems you had your hand out of the window to get that picture, didn't you?

[Sam Kapasi]

Originally Posted by moralfibre

Seems you had your hand out of the window to get that picture, didn't you?

Yes baba. I quickly stuck my point and shoot film camera out, shot and pulled back in. The lioness looked up because of the sound. I got lucky.

I was young and foolish. It was a stupid thing to do. I was only 3 feet away from the cat and she may have lunged upward thinking it was a small animal, or bird in my hand.

Then people would have recounted horror stories of my arm being mauled in africa and feared and hated the Jungle cats more.

But remember, it would have been MY fault, not hers. She would just be confused. She's not supposed to know what a camera looks like.

[WhiteKnight]

Originally Posted by Sam Kapasi

Sam, did you have the same hairstyle that time. May be the lioness thought of you as on of theirs.

Originally Posted by Sam Kapasi

The key here, is to simply wait. Never Panic.

Sometimes lions also know that trick. Better haul yourself out of the place