When you go to the West, you realise that the East is pretty much represented by elephants. Be it Thailand or India, you find souvenirs having elephants in different forms.

I hadn't witnessed elephants in the wild in India. I had always seen them harnessed in forts and weddings and had experienced riding on them on multiple occasions. PS I am not promoting animal cruelty, I am not in favour of these at all. I was young and as a child, these things seem to be much coveted.

My first stint with elephants proper was in Kandy, Sri Lanka, where we had bathed these mammoth creatures. That's the time our entire family fell in love with these huge mammals and it was the most memorable moment of our Sri Lanka trip. However the desire to catch them in the wild was fulfilled when we visited Mikumi National park in Tanzania, Africa.

There are major differences between Asian elephants and African elephants.

The first major visual difference is that the ears of African elephants are really huge and fan like, whereas they are not so in Asian ones. Secondly, the head has a small indentation in Asian ones while it's round and full in African elephants. Also, only a few Asian males have tusks while long tusks are present in both African males and females. 

And one that our guide told us was that African elephants are way more aggressive than Asian ones. And we got to experience that first hand!

When we spotted one from a distance, we stopped first and observed him for a while. Then we drove nearer to see him more clearly. He has noticed us approaching. After some time he started walking towards us, and gradually his pace increased. Our driver told us that he got gotten offended and hence was after us. He drove us away from his path. We watched him from a distance. He pooped on the trail. It was particularly very hilarious to Mohi, our 9 year old. 

He then looked at us from there, as if it was his reply to us for stalking him and then went on his way. I will never forget that experience. It was a narrow escape.

Have you ever been threatened by a wild animal to a point it was real scary?

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