bwanamich:

If it was indeed a bull in musth, the guide should have been able to smell him some distance away and diverted. Most musth bulls have quite an odor.

My personal feeling is bush walks just aren't fair so a tourist can feel "I did something most don't do" and so the operator can raise more money. Unfortunately from this, and many other incidents like this, there are two dead, one seriously injured and a husband/father who will be traumatized for life. And this doesn't even address the elephant who will be killed because of it. If there are several musth bulls in the area how will they know which to kill? I'm sure the guide, with all that was going on, didn't have time to check the bulls ear patterns for correct identification.

Better yet, the African countries should band together and create a law that if you go on a bush walk, escorted or not, there can be no weapons taken along.

I dream though. When one African country can't pass necessary laws, it would be impossible for all countries to do so continent-wide

Pippa,
The news article talks of a hunting excursion but the lodge where it happened , The Hide, is a photographic lodge.

Jan and Pippa,
I would never wish to ban bush walking activities. Furthermore, personally i would always avail myself of this activity wherever it is offered. Provided it is guided by a qualified guide who knows what he is doing, the danger factor is highly reduced. Of course S**t happens sometimes. But I would rather die being trampled by a wild elephant than riddled by disease in a hospital bed. Those clients could just as easily have been bitten by a snake in the room or simply being allergic to a bee or scorpion and get stung with no anti-histamine to administer. My point is that whereever one is in this world, he/she is in some form of danger.

Those unfortunate tourists where "living" life if you know what i mean. They were not afraid to immerse themselves in nature. They ..."dared".

It is understood that when you partake in such an activity, you do it concious of the dangers involved. The only thing I would have done differently is that I would not have taken my 12 year old kids along UNLESS I was in charge of the excursion. Not to say that I am better than anyone else but simply because if something happens, I have only myself to blame for it. I can live with that....

Besides, there have been instances where toruists have been killed by wildlife whilst lounging around the camp/lodge premises, etc. You don't have to go on a bush walk to endanger your life.

Jan,
Re your comment on Musth bulls: It all depends how the encounter occurred. If a Musth bull is downwind, you won't smell him. We don't know at what distance the bull was first spotted by the group and whether it was immeadiately identified he was in Musth. If he was walking towards the group to begin with they wouldn't have noticed that immeadiately. Probably on once it would turn broadside or if indeed they smelled him. Hwange elephants are conisdered to be generally rather placid compared to other wild herds in the country. It is very easy to "stumble" on to an elephant without being aware of its presence. There are many variables to consider. Only Andy can tell su the real story of how it happened.....Furthermore, there was suspicion the elephant may have been wounded. Not a good thing to encounter on a non-hunting bush walk!

As to how do they know which animal they are tracking, it is surely not easy. However, the Zim Parks board have some outstanding trackers. If they got to the site quickly enough, they can follow the spoor from there and provided the bull does not mingle with others in a herd (and even then good trackers can sometimes follow through with their tracking), etc, they can positively identify the right bull.

Walking down to Sheldrick Falls in Shimba Hills has always been my favorite excursion.
You walk through high grass, dense bush, swim in the water etc. Great fun and I would always do it again despite all dangers. Sometimes I wonder, how many times I probably walked right past a buffalo or elephant but didn't see it because of the high grass. You smell them everywhere and sometimes even hear them, but you don't see a thing.

Like bwanamich I would be against a general ban for any walking around in the park but I wonder if tourists are aware of the risk. I doubt that camp owners inform them correctly and such news usually don't spread to the public.

I also doubt that these tourists get a briefing on how to behave. Unless the mother had forgotten everything they told her, why would she try to hide in a bush ??

What I mean to say is, if you know what you are doing and you do it correctly, it is an experience of a lifetime and I would hate to miss it, but I am against groups of happily chatting, uninformed tourists that think they are in a zoo.

Of course I don't know if this was the case here, but I have seen it just too many times in the past.

bwanamich:

You are absolutely correct that incidents can happen around camp, in your room/tent, etc. by insects, snakes, and other animals. However, it doesn't seem fair that an innocent animal be shot because humans wanted to intrude on their territory which has already shrunk. By doing the walks you decrease the animal's "safe" territory even further. I'll post an article I just received. It seems the Zim government is now using this incident as an excuse to start their culling again which is deplorable.

"Zimbabwe to cull elephants

News 24
March 27. 2007

Harare - Zimbabwe plans to cull its growing elephant population to limit damage to the environment and reduce conflict with humans, state media said on Tuesday.

The reports came after a rampaging elephant trampled to death a British woman and her 10-year-old daughter on Saturday in the Hwange national part in northwest Zimbabwe.

The animals have also often stomped through villages, destroying crops and property.

Zimbabwe's parks and wildlife authority says the southern African country's elephant population has risen above 100 000, more than twice the 45 000 it can sustain.

"We are having an explosion of the elephant population," the regional Chronicle newspaper quoted wildlife authority spokesperson Edward Mbewe as saying.

"This has proved to be destructive to the environment and there are more cases of humans encountering elephant invasions and attacks".

The culling plans face opposition from local conservation groups who dispute the official figures, arguing that the government had not conducted a wildlife audit for almost seven years.

Mbewe said the cull would take place within the country's annual hunting quota of 500, allowed under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites). Zimbabwe earns about $15m every year from elephant hunting.

There were no immediate figures on how many elephants on average Zimbabwe has allowed to be hunted in recent years, but environmentalists say such poaching is a growing problem.

Some Cites member states and international lobby groups are also opposed to elephant culling as well as ivory trade, which is banned in the country due to illegal poaching but which has a strong black market in Africa.

Neighbouring South Africa also recently announced a new elephant management plan which could include both culling and contraception, saying the current elephant population of some 20 000 could double by 2020 with disastrous ecological consequences unless steps are taken to bring numbers down.

Article at the following link:
http://www.news24.com/News24/Technology/News/0,,2-13-1443_2089938,00.html"

I don't think you can fairly compare you walking in the bush with untrained tourists. You have been in the bush for years, you know how to interpret things and your reflexes on reacting to danger would be far superior to the average tourist. If danger occurs you have to make a snap decision based on your knowledge as to when to run, which direction to run, etc. A tourist without your bush experience just can't be relied upon to react in the same way you would. And if there are multiple tourists on the walk, it just increases the possibilities of danger. Should the worst happen you or your family wouldn't want the animal unjustly killed because you knew well the dangers when you started. Unfortunately in our litiginous society today, tourists will most likely, despite a form they may have signed, try to sue everyone claiming they didn't realize the real dangers, they weren't protected enough, etc. Everywhere you go in Africa (lodges, camps, etc) require tourists to sign one of those forms and, because the forms don't outline the possible dangers, I suspect they are probably worthless if a good attorney got hold of them.

Let's leave what little territory wildlife has left to wildlife and not let untrained tourists intrude.