Saji, a farmer in Kerala, India, had an eventful day where the agricultural needs took a pause while he was trying to save himself from an elephant stampede. Instead of growing crops for other people’s supper, he might have been the catch of the day for these large land mammals.
In an attempt to get refuge, he was forced to climb a tree after an elephant came charging at him without any provocation. Soon, other elephants from the herd followed.
The man would never have thought that he would have to take refuge in a tree for the next one and a half hours holding his breath as trumpeting elephants surrounded him. The hair-raising video of the incident has gone viral.
In the video recorded by some locals, the man could be seen perching on a tree with the elephants hanging around. He made a loud noise to alert the locals. The locals tried to drive away the elephants but to no avail.
Left with no other option, locals alerted forest officials, who later used crackers to drive them off. As tuskers escaped the scene, Saji was then rescued safely.
Apparently, the incident occurred when he was going atop the hill from the makeshift shed where he was staying somewhere down. “Some elephants came running my way suddenly. I did not think much but climbed the tree… I had to sit there for the next one and a half hours,” he said.
A forest official said despite being warned, the man ventured into the area where elephants were roaming to watch the herd of jumbos. As one of the tuskers remained near the tree, he could not climb down and had to wait on top for some time till the officials came back and chased it away, he added.
Source: https://youtu.be/1QPbP8ODwmE