io8 SAFARI 



To the lay eye, the African elephant seems the same 

 animal as the Indian elephant, which is the species 

 always seen in circuses. The reason for this choice 

 is that the Hindu for centuries has domesticated 

 elephants for purposes of labor and transportation. 

 An African native shrinks from such intimacy with 

 the huge quadrupeds. Hence the African elephant 

 has long had cause to fear man, if only through 

 constant threat of the ivory himters. 



We don't shoot elephants or anything else at 

 Lake Paradise. Our chief work consists solely of 

 filming wild game in its natural habitat. As a result 

 there has grown up among the elephant herds in our 

 vicinity none of the terror and vindictiveness so 

 often reported from India where herds attack native 

 villages en masse and do terrible damage. 



Two incidents, while somewhat extreme, illustrate 

 what I mean. About twenty years ago a train on 

 the railway in Burma was attacked by an elephant. 

 The engineer whistled as he took a grade. A big bull 

 elephant feeding nearby interpreted the blast as a 

 challenge. He loudly trumpeted his acceptance of 

 the invitation to do battle. He lowered his head and 

 made for the oncoming train. Once on the tracks he 

 met it almost exactly head-on. The engineer had no 

 time to stop. Probably he was so dumbfounded by 

 the sight of the huge beast galloping towards him 

 that he was powerless to act. Engine and elephant 



