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Explorer Mike Fay Survives Elephant Attack in Gabon |
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David Braun National Geographic News |
| January 8, 2003 |
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View Photo Gallery >> Africa explorer J. Michael Fay survived being charged and gored by an elephant in a national park in Gabon on New Year's Eve. He received cuts and gashes on his arms and legs, including a puncture through his right bicep, but otherwise escaped serious injury. He is currently recovering in the capital city of Libreville. "I feel like the luckiest person on the planet," said Fay, who has also survived a plane crash, many bouts of malaria, and confrontations with armed poachers, all while trying to protect Africa's wildlife. "All I could see were those tusks bearing down on my chest, and I thought that it was a miracle that I hadn't been killed." Two years ago Fay completed a 2,000-mile (3,200-kilometer), 14-month walk through central Africa in some of the world's most pristine forests. The "Megatransect," a joint expedition of National Geographic and the Wildlife Conservation Society, was featured in several National Geographic magazine articles and a National Geographic EXPLORER TV documentary. National Geographic's Congo Trek Web site collects Fay's dispatches and photographs from the Megatransect. Due in part to the publicity the walk received, the government of Gabon declared last year the establishment of 13 new national parks that span some 10,000 square miles (25,000 square kilometers). Fay was in Gabon to help prepare the new park system when he was attacked. The elephant charged a group he was leading through Loango National Park on Gabon's coast. The group fled, while Fay stayed behind to face the elephant's advance, which can usually be staved off by standing one's ground. Fay said he had been charged numerous times in the past, but nearly all had been bluffs. He put no blame on the elephant, saying that the young female was simply trying to defend its territory, along with another elephant with a calf nearby. There was also the possibility that one of the elephants was the mother of another calf that he had found dying at that exact spot only a few days earlier, he said. "I fell right in the trap of classic female elephant crossfire," he said in an e-mail. "It's one of those things that was inevitable," he said in a telephone interview today. "You mess with elephants all the time and you get close to them, eventually one of them is going to go for the full Monty. I just thank God that I had time to turn around, grab those tusks and ride that bronco as long as I could. She never did really hit the mark." Listen to the audio of Fay's telephone interview. Fay was with the group on New Year's Eve looking for elephants and buffalo on the beach. They came across the three elephants and spent some minutes watching them. "I told the group all along that if we did get charged to run for the beach and that I would stay behind to stop the elephant's charge," he said. The two adult animals separated and when the older elephant gave a very slight false charge it immediately brought the younger female on a charge right out of the bushes, Fay said. "I told the group to hightail it for the beach, and I retreated a bit into position so that I couldn't get outflanked should the larger female charge," Fay said. "Of course seeing four people running and one backing off brought the younger female on and I stopped, but I was completely out in the open by then and she kept coming. "I didn't scream and yell and flail my arms like I usually do because it always seems so violent. I did stand there and try to get her to stop, but she was already within a few meters of me. When she was at about a meter and a half I decided that she wasn't going to stop, and I turned and ran. "I tripped on some bushes in the sand and fell, knowing full well that she was bearing right down on me. I turned to face her, and she was already over me and about half way down the trajectory to sticking her tusks through my chest." Coming in for the Kill The elephant was coming in for the kill, he said, when he turned to face her. With the tusks only a foot (0.3 meter) or so away from his chest, Fay caught them, one in each hand, and used them to get out of their way. "I wasn't actually controlling her movements. I was controlling my movements, doing a pretty good job of keeping those tusks away from vital parts," he said. The elephant went on to its knees and tried to roll on top of Fay, repeatedly trying to stab him with her tusks. "She missed that first stab and her tusks were sticking in the sand four inches [10 centimeters] from my head…and then when she tried to roll on me I thought, 'I'm going to die, I'm going to be squished,'" Fay said. Fay said he felt as if he was in a bad dream "where I couldn't get traction and I was for those microseconds thinking I was going to get tusked in the back, but she retreated and I was alive." He held on to the tusks as long as he could to leverage himself out of the way. He estimates the elephant made about 15 attempts to stab him. Fay may have been saved by members of his group who had come back to yell and throw a backpack at the elephant. After retrieving his glasses from the sand, the group escorted Fay several miles on foot to a camp from which he was evacuated by air to Libreville for medical assistance. The aircraft took off in the dark with the runway illuminated by truck lights. Fay said this was not the most violent encounter he'd had with an elephant, although it was the first time he had been in physical contact with one in the wild. "I have had situations where I have been more frightened. "But my feelings towards elephants hasn't been changed by this experience. If you know animals and their behavior, you know how to combat their tendencies when they're getting aggressive. You are still safe. "But it will be interesting to see what my reactions will be in future when I meet elephants. I don't know that I'll be nearly as engaging as I've been in the past." More on the Megatransect from Nationalgeographic.com: Congo Trek: A Journey Through the Heart of Central Africa Congo Trekking With the World's Most Adventurous Explorer More on the Megatransect from National Geographic magazine online: Megatransect I With photo gallery and field notes by photographer Michael "Nick" Nichols: Go >> Megatransect II With photo gallery , field notes, audio, and video: Go >> Megatransect III With photo gallery , field notes, audio, and video: Go >> Sights & Sounds from Megatransect Across Africa Multimedia presentation of the megatransect: Go >> |
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