Megatransect expedition leader Mike Fay says that the biggest danger he faced in his walk through the heart of Africa’s forests had four legs, sharp tusks and a trunk. So did he try to avoid the animal? “No!” he says. “I made a point of engaging them.”

In his 15 months in the remote forests of Congo and Gabon, Fay had about 100 close encounters with elephants, most of which he initiated to find out more about the beasts. Their reactions indicated a lot about what was happening to each population, he said. “When elephants tense up and run on contact, they are being hunted. When they pause, bluff-charge and enter into a sparring match with you, you know hunting pressure in the area is very low. It’s sort of like going into a wrestling ring,” he said. “Every encounter is a bit different.”

The most touchy elephants were groups of females—generally a few mothers, grandmothers and some offspring that spend their time together. Once he made his presence known to such a group, a matriarch would immediately come right for him. “You have to stand there and yell to make her stop,” he said.

“You should never let elephants outflank you. Their strategy often is for a few members of the group to stare you down while a couple of others move quietly around to your side. You have to change position accordingly or they will all charge, and that will be the end of it.” Elephant trunks are so powerful, they can kill a person with one swipe, Fay said.

Fay saw enough elephants that he was able to recognize the sex of each animal by the shape of its head. He found males to be cowardly compared with females, though males in “must,” a hormone-driven frenzy, were to be avoided. “They can be completely out of control,” he said.

Many of the animals seemed unafraid of Fay or acted as if the sighting of the curious human with the notebook was a first. Others obviously found Fay a threat. “One elephant that saw me tensed up every muscle in his body and then took off running, crashing through miles of woods in terror,” Fay said.

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