According to the article the lodge was unknowingly built over a regular trail the elephants took to get to that particular mango tree. I can try to some quoting here if anyone is interested...or link if the article is up on line.

I'm sure the barriers had to go up because of liability and human stupidity issues. I've had close encounters of the elephant kind in the past in camp - it doesn't take much common sense to have a peaceful encounter, as long as both sides are agreed.

Good point Kipper - but you need to look at the whole situation!
What do I mean by this? - Those who are quite active on this forum have been a number of times on safari and a normal safari in a 4x4 and being part of a package deal becomes boaring so we look for something more adventurous! I am a bad one for this as being born in Kenya - and grew up between coffee farms, the bush and dad opening various lodges in TZ, Kenya and in the tropical rain forest in Congo; I have had the luck on being an out door kid.
However we have had quite a lot of situations where tourists take everything a step further to impress family, friends or their lady friend!
It is fun to have danger on your door step but when you have the odd idiot and there are loads - that is where the problem occurs.
My dad has had to deal with -

1) A father of 2 kids who decided to film a lion with wife and kids in the back ground.... result; mauled by a lion.
2) 2 couples off to photograph Cape Buffalo that walked into the camp - the men decided to walk upto them as they were in the camp - one hopitalised the other one died.
3) Monkeys bitting clients who wish to give them food - numerous occassions over 35 years.

I know that this is also common sence that has to take place but where does one draw the line?

In this particular case - before a camp or lodge is built - at least they can see if there is an elephant trail that goes through - not hard to do as we have done these studies about 6 years ago in the Kimana area.

I agree if there is no danger - then there is no fun and I like you will not do safaris anymore.
One example - Sheldrick falls in the south Coast of Kenya - Kwale district.
20 years ago as a teenager - it was fun to walk those several miles to the hidden falls that was not known. With the odd friend or lady friend.... no it is similar to the A3 motorway running past Guildford in Surrey.... fenced, gaurds and the lot - I have not been there anymore nor am I interested... the fun and danger has been taken.
I get your point but where tourists are involved the risks are higher as we never know what stupid acts they can do -

Who do we blame then the camps? Animals or tourist that then in return take the lodges and camps to court when such situations occur?

I must admit also - close everything and make it all 100% safe - we may as well go to a park with the animals closed in.... a zoo!
Hard one this one....

Certainly a hard one to call if not impossible.

I have never had the herd instinct so luckily I have never met the idiots but I'm sure they're there & a look at YouTube shows that the idiots are also proud of their stupidity!

my 2 cents:

nico, of course there should be a thorough research exceuted BEFORE a camp is going to be errected. but experiences have shown it's not always done. e.g. at the zambezi river bank in livingstone there are hotels in between ancient migration routes of elephants which alsways causes elephants deaths when they cross the river and cannot get out on the other side. they get drowned and eventually killed when spilled over the edge of the falls.

of course tourists must be safe but any tourist must be aware of the danger when visiting animal kingdom. here also the camps are requested to provide honest information on check in. but mostly they ask the guests to fill in the indemnity form without giving more information. and mostly it's done with a smile which explains "you know, we have to do it despite it's absolutely safe" which it isn't!

here it also comes down to education!

as kipper says we all want a kind of adventure - there is always some adrenalin pumping when mock charged by an eli. that's part of the game. otherwise we certainly could visit any safari park in europe.

frankly - i have not clue how to deal with this.
i also don't want an animal being killed because it reacted in a normal way to human intruders....

tough question..............

Wonder if anyone has thought to perhaps transplant the mango tree to outside the lodge area?

I, like Pippa, would hate to think one of those elephants might be shot if someone sneezed, coughed, etc causing the elephants to panic and cause havoc with people or property.