Safari Stories - Part 1: Robert vs. Elephant

Robert and Felix, the “savior” :)

To keep you inspired and entertained, we’d love to share a few memorable, real-life safari stories with you! Our first Safari Story is from 2017 when our very own Robert found himself in a precarious situation. Read for yourself…:)

“It was Day 8 of a very successful Birding/Migration safari in August of 2017. We set off from Central Serengeti early in the morning since it’s the best time for bird watching, and we were headed to the Northern Serengeti.

It was quite a productive day considering the number of bird species we saw, along with cheetahs, lions, elephants, giraffes and many other different species of wildlife. At around 2:00 PM we decided to make our way to our camp by the Mara River, which was about three hours away.

There were two ways to get to our destination from here - one being a lot busier than the other. After a short discussion with the guests about which route we wanted to take, we democratically chose the less busy road so we could enjoy an evening birding session. We knew that the remaining days on safari were going to be focused on the Great Migration and any potential Mara River crossings.

We took the road of our choice down the lush and green valley, filled with big herds of wildebeest grazing and moving northbound towards the Mara River. Happy and excited we were stopping every now and then to take some photos and to scan the horizon with our binoculars for a predator trying to make a kill.

We happily kept going like this before we ended up stuck in a small seasonal creek that looked like someone had driven through a while ago. I locked the hub and put our land cruiser into four-wheel drive to try to get us unstuck but after a few tries back and forth I knew it was futile. After calling for help on the radio for quite some time I realized that we weren’t in anybody’s line of sight (because we had chosen the road less travelled).

I decided to let the guests stay in the vehicle, and after a short briefing about safety I took a machete, a bottle of water and binoculars, and started walking towards the main road which was about 30 minutes away. A big portion of the walk had very good visibility. Because the grass was short I could see safari vehicles moving up and down the main road, and two of them were parked by the side of the road looking the other way. I froze and slowly raised my binoculars to find out what they were looking at so I could properly assess the situation I found myself in. It was very difficult to tell what they were focused on due to my position down the slope of the valley, so I moved a little further up towards a small piece of woodland. After scanning for any hidden danger with my binoculars, nothing looked life-threatening so I moved in and took cover by the bush near the road.

All of a sudden, I finally spotted what they were looking at: there was a bull elephant on the other side of the road that had picked up my movement! He started coming towards where I was hiding very cautiously. He kept a good distance from the bush I was hiding behind but his eyes were fixated on me. I froze behind the bush hoping there would be no change of wind knowing an elephant’s strong sense of smell and their speed. All I wished at that moment was to turn into Usain Bolt.

The guides and guests in those two safari vehicles were so focused on the elephant, they could not see me in my hideout. But I could see them and the elephant, now only about 10 meters away from me. Thankfully the elephant was starting to relax and pulled a branch off an acacia tree and started munching. I dropped my machete (so I wouldn’t look like a mad man) and took the courage of running towards the closest vehicle. I approached it on the driver side so I could have the car between me and the animal. I introduced myself to the driver - we had actually known each other for years - but he panicked and took off! I bolted toward the other vehicle calling the guide (who I immediately recognized) by his name! “Felix, help me!” He looked at me and screamed “Robert hang onto the side of the vehicle! The elephant is coming!” It took a second, I opened the door and I was inside the vehicle with his two guests, which were all scared and couldn’t believe their eyes. We quickly drove off for safety following the other vehicle that had abandoned me…I told them my story, they towed us out of the mud and we ended up at the camp with a story to tell!”

-Robert Tarimo, Co-Founder, Sababu Safaris