Have you seen an elephant up close?

It depends where you are. If you're in Africa and in the wild you'd best not to look an elephant or any animal in the eye unless you fancy being dead. Most animals would take that as a threat.

Awesome. We got to our raft which we were staying in. I went to the back and there was an elephant having a bath right there in the river. I couldn’t believe it

Have you ever read "there's an elephant in my kitchen" about a lady who ran a wildlife sanctuary in south Africa. Lots of wonderful stuff about elephants and their intuition.

I got chased by elephants, Kariba, Zimbabwe 1991, maybe within 50m.

They didn't seem happy & yes i saw its soul.

My daughter and I volunteered at an elephant sanctuary in Thailand a few years ago.
All the elephants were rescued from trekking camps. Their backs aren’t designed to carry a lot of weight and in fact a few had broken backs which was heartbreaking. I would certainly never go to such a place but I understand why people might not realise how cruel it is.
They are the most amazing animals, walking so quietly that you had to keep an eye out for them although we weren’t allowed near them unless the mahoots were with them.
I did get a real sense of their intelligence and found the whole experience to be very moving. Such magnificent animals.

I’ve looked into an elephant’s eyes several times in India and Africa. I didn’t feel any particular connection, however I did think they were calm and somehow weighed me up.

Looking into a lion’s eyes is completely different, alien and no mercy.

Yes, dh and I were on safari we had a rondavel right at the end of the camp. Everyone else had gone and we were the only ones staying an extra day. We ambled back to our room after breakfast and found ourselves amongst a herd. Bull, babies the lot. I shit myself because the time of year we went the bulls were in musth. In my head I dramatically began planning my survival run, dh not arsed at all. But, it was amazing after the initial oh crap! We were so close they were right infront of us blocking the path to our room. We had to stand very quietly avert our eyes and wait. The staff cleaning next door buggered off and left us!

The only way I can describe it is we were ‘seen’ there was so much more than a glance. I got photos after they’d left and they had decimated our walkway to our rondavel, the trees, the rope and the wood.

One of the most frightening and exhilarating experiences of my life.

I have been up close several
Times in asia and
In Africa , I don't think it really makes eye contact though as hard to see both eyes at once

Loads. I’m from Southern Africa and currently visiting my family and we’ve all just got back from a safari. Just yesterday I stood about 4m away from a mother and her child in the wild.

Yes, in India. They are used in nature reserves to keep an eye on what the tigers are doing. Her keeper let me feed her by hand, great discs of dough, bunches of bananas and bundles of sugar cane. If I was a bit slow the elephant took the next thing from my hands. With the dough she lodged one disc on her tusks and ate one. I also saw wild elephants in the forest.

I've just seen one on a rightmove listing
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/158458070

In a safari park in Spanish mountains about 37 years ago.
All just wandering around.
one of the baby elephants had what I now recognise as a proper toddler tantrum. It was quite a spectacle! Also a bit scary but hilarious.

On the way to primary school, there was one in the park. Absolutely blew my mind why an elephant would be hanging around in the park next to the swings and slide at 8am, told everyone at school and was laughed at until someone pointed out the circus was coming, and it had elephants.

Didn't get too close. I presume it was tethered in some way but I wasn't loitering.

This is an old picture of Ajok and friend:

He was around three months old when orphaned by poachers.
Raised by the Sheldrick trust, taught how to fend for himself and returned to the wild. He's 35 now.🙂

Edited to say sorry, have to wait for the picture to be approved.

When I was a teenager, I was at a college of further education. I made friends with a girl who had family in Kenya. I was invited to go to visit with them for a six-week holiday in the summer. I did so, and whilst travelling to visit her relatives in Uganda, we met elephants crossing the mud-baked roads. We always stopped, but left the engines running in case we needed to evade their curiosity about who or what we were. They never bothered us, and I was very privileged to have met them in their natural environment.

Yes but not in a so called 'sanctuary' or rescue as they are really rare.
We were on a water safari in Thailand and a few where eating on the bank, our guide got as close as was safe to do so... tbh they looked a bit pissed off that we'd disturbed them!

@ThatsABitExcessive If you can afford to go to Kenya, visit these folk: https://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/

I know when I was in Thailand there was elephant trekking excursions. This was 30 years ago and like a previous poster i don’t think it was as known as it is now that it’s not very ethical. As a backpacker I was too skint to do it but I passed the elephants in the jungle with people riding them.

my parents went to Sri Lanka and went to the elephant orphanage where you could go and help wash them in the river but I read bad things about that particular orphanage now. Not sure how true it is. Elephants being chained, etc.

Was this in Sri Lanka by any chance?

Yes in Thailand. We were staying by a tribe in a forest by the river kwai. We rode on it as well

I have this feeling with my dog.