Its strange reliving fearful moments from an out of body perspective. Particularly when that perspective is not a photograph or video, or dream, but rather an immersive 360 video. Episode 2 of the Okavango Experience takes you face to face with various elephants we encountered on the expedition.
On one occasion we showed up to an island to stop for lunch not realising an entire herd of elephants was still foraging. As the elephants came out of the forest one by one, each evaluating if we were a threat, we sat motionless like statues waiting for them to pass. At one point the matriarch of the herd crossed our path. She stood eye to eye with us for what seemed like an eternity, but according to the video was about 30 seconds, until she decided to pass as well. It’s a great example of how we dealt with animal encounters in the delta. We had no weapons or no motors, nothing that put us above the animals. It was a constant act of negotiation. A conversation.