Scary video shows angry elephant flinging truck full of tourists into air: 'This truck drove too close'

Tourists and wild animals are never a good mix, even if a professional tour guide accompanies the tourists.

Instagram user Touronsofnationalparks (@touronsofnationalparks) shared a video from an encounter in Pilanesberg National Park in South Africa between a vehicle of tourists and an incredibly unhappy elephant.

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In the video, an elephant approaches a vehicle full of tourists before spearing the front of the truck with its tusks and hoisting the truck into the air. The whole time, you can hear a man (presumably the tour guide) yelling. The elephant backs off, then moves forward to lift the truck once again, until finally the truck can back away from the elephant.

Touronsofnationalparks shared more info about the elephant in their post and explained, "The Pilanesberg elephants are a population of African elephants […] Today, the Pilanesberg elephants are an important and iconic part of the reserve's ecosystem, attracting tourists and wildlife enthusiasts from around the world."

Fellow Instagrammers were appalled on the elephant's behalf.

"This truck drove too close or went somewhere he was not supposed to. Foolhardy & dangerous!" suggested one person.

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Another user said of the elephant, "He could have done so much more, just a thrust up in the air with that truck to show you who is in charge here!!"

It is unclear whether the elephant caught the group by surprise, but if the move was intentional, the tour guide should have known better than to get so close to the elephant. Though this group of tourists got lucky, human-wildlife encounters can often end badly.

If the elephant had managed to flip the truck entirely, people could have been injured or even killed.

Human-wildlife encounters don't only cause harm to humans, either. It's not uncommon for wild animals that have injured people to be euthanized after the fact, even if the animal was provoked.