I opened the back kitchen door to my house in Chobe region, Botswana to throw rubbish in the bin. Unknown to me, in the nearby thick bush was this Elephant, the largest land animal on the planet, totally camouflaged in the foliage eating tree leaves. My sudden appearance and very close proximity to the Elephant sent it into panic. It let out a loud scream that left me shocked and half paralyzed with fear. I was totally confused and did not immediately know what to do.
The Elephant’s immediate reaction was to defend itself from any imminent attack from me. It aggressively came out of the bush and faced me direct on. Looking directly in the dark eyes of this largest animal on earth, it seemed to pierce my soul, as l stood with nothing between the two of us but just the white Kalahari sand! The Elephant exuberantly expressed anger but made no attempt to charge at me. This gave me the opportunity to quietly retreat back into the kitchen shaking like a leaf. The elephant then moved backwards and disappeared in the nearby forest. This was the most frightening experience l’ve ever had that I will never forget.