Online Reporter
Rutendo Nyeve, [email protected]
EVERY time Mr Lucky Maphosa sees an elephant, his body remembers what his mind is trying to forget.
His heart races. A headache sets in and he becomes dizzy.
For the Victoria Falls safari guide, the symptoms remind him of the morning when an elephant charged at him, knocked him to the ground and came within inches of ending his life.
A month after the terrifying encounter, Mr Maphosa, affectionately known as Kistos Maps, has returned to work. But while his physical wounds have healed, the psychological scars remain.
“The scars of that fateful morning are not just physical. They are etched deep into my soul,” his experience seems to say, as he struggles to reconcile his love and knowledge of wildlife with the memory of being nearly crushed by one of Africa’s most powerful animals.
Mr Maphosa had spent years guiding tourists and introducing them to the majesty of Zimbabwe’s wildlife. The attack happened on a familiar path, one he had walked many times before.
“It was around 10.30AM when I was walking along a familiar path. It’s a place where we usually walk almost every day. So this elephant just surfaced from the thicket,” he recounted.
There was no time to prepare and the first thing that Mr Maphosa heard was a trumpet.
“By the time it was trumpeting, it came out from the thicket,” he said.
As a trained guide, Mr Maphosa knew how to interpret animal behaviour. The elephant was between 10 and 15 metres away and its posture immediately raised alarm.
“I saw that it was a full charge because it had already tucked in its ears, the head also tucked in and facing down. As a guide, those are the signs that you know this animal is not backing down,” he said.
Mr Maphosa tried to make himself appear larger, shouting, clapping and jumping in an attempt to deter the animal, but it kept coming.
“I started running, but unfortunately I fell due to shock and also seeing that a huge animal was chasing me,” he said.
When he fell face-down, Mr Maphosa turned onto his back. The elephant was already above him.
“The first thing I remember is that it lifted its front leg and tried to step on my private parts. I tried by all means to open my legs to avoid that and it subsequently stepped on the ground,” he said.
The animal then lifted its back foot, seemingly attempting to crush him again.
With little room to manoeuvre, Mr Maphosa used his legs to push himself sideways, desperately trying to move out of its path.
Then, unexpectedly, his hat drew the elephant’s attention.
As he rolled to the left, the hat remained behind. The elephant began concentrating on it, trembling and stepping on it.
“It started concentrating much on the hat, trembling and stepping on the hat. Then, I don’t know why, it just ran to the other direction,” said the guide.
For a moment, Mr Maphosa was free, but the elephant stopped about 30 to 50 metres away, turned and faced him once again.
He knew another charge could be fatal.
“I picked up some stones and sticks and started throwing at it, trying by all means to make sure it did not come again. I knew that if I allowed that elephant to come again, I was not going to survive,” said Mr Maphosa.
With the animal still posing a threat, Mr Maphosa turned to his faith.
A committed Christian, he began praying.
“I was like, this is the end of me today. As I was screaming and rolling, I was also calling the name of Jesus. I believe that was the prayer that helped me,” said Mr Maphosa.
Eventually, the elephant retreated. Mr Maphosa survived, but the encounter left an imprint that has followed him back to work.
He says the experience resurfaces whenever he sees an elephant, even when the animal poses no immediate threat.
“If I see an elephant walking, my heart pumps so fast, I get a headache, I feel dizzy, the same things I felt that day on the ground. There’s something I cannot even explain,” said Mr Maphosa.
His return to work has therefore not meant an end to the ordeal. The physical danger has passed, but the emotional consequences continue to affect him.
Mr Maphosa said surviving the attack is an experience he attributes to divine intervention.
“Only by God’s grace I am still alive today. I do not even know how I managed to survive that attack. It was very intense,” he said.
The man who once walked familiar wildlife trails with confidence now carries a different awareness of the danger that can emerge without warning. He remains alive, grateful for the opportunity to continue his life and work.
