Two tourists in their effort to take a perfect shot close to a wild elephant were trampled to death in Zambia on Saturday.
64-year-old Dutch man and a 57-year-old Belgium woman while on a safari at Maramba River Lodge in Livingstone tried getting close to the animal to take pictures, which led to the elephant charging the woman, the AFP report.
Their bodies were found lying on the ground with multiple injuries, police spokesperson Danny Mwale said.
According to the Senior Wildlife Warden for the southern region Lewis Daka, the man tried to save the woman but also got trampled. He told the Zambian National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) that his department is urging lodge owners to provide guides to visitors to make sure that tourists don’t get so close to the animals.
The ZNBC reports that there has been an influx of the elephants in Livingstone and Mosi-o-tunya National Park, and that last week a security officer at another nearby lodge was trampled by elephants on his way to work while he cycled through the park. Employees from the company were banned from travelling through the park to work.
Many tourists visiting Africa enjoy getting an up-close and personal encounter with wild animals and this sometimes ends in tragedy many times.
