A terrifying GoPro video shows the moment a man came across an elephant in the road in Sri Lanka, and the elephant wanted him outta there. The man, Kév Le Balch, stopped his scooter, realized the elephant was about the charge, and tried to get away on foot. Thankfully, he did. The scariest moment comes when you see the elephant’s massive shadow behind him in the video as Le Balch furiously runs.
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“Road rage has a different meaning in Sri Lanka,” wrote GoPro in its Instagram post sharing the video. “@kevlebalch had no choice but to run when this massive elephant chased him down the highway. We’re happy to report that he was not injured + walked away with one heck of a video to show the world.”
Some commenters wonder if he should have stayed on his scooter.
“Now, call me dumb but . . .There’s no way to out run an Elephant on foot . . . so wasn’t his chances better ON his scooter?” wrote one person.
The top reply to this comment says there was no way Le Balch could have gotten the scooter turned around and up to speed before the elephant reached him. It says: “By directly going toward the elephant??? Or by taking a 10 sec time to turn his scooter back??? His best case was to run . . . He was at [a] stop. There’s no way he would have accomplished a decent speed to outrun [it].”
In the end, Le Balch’s instincts to ditch his scooter and run saved his life. And now he has this terrifying video to remember the time he met an elephant in the road.
See the GoPro video of a man’s elephant encounter:
Header stock image by Chalabala/Getty Images