Seated on a low reclining chair at the balcony of his **use in Mabomani v***age, Mr Benjamin Mwangi is the epitome of calmness. Nothing in his face suggests that a fortnight ago, he esca*** ***** by a whisker after a nightmarish near-***** tangle with an enraged mother elephant.
Only a pair of crutches carefully placed against a wall, within his arms’ reach, betrays that all might not be well. “I was a **** man. God came to my rescue,” he starts slowly, a distant look in his eyes. Then a g**st of an easy smile flitters across his lips and he chuckles.
“The v***agers are now calling me the jumbo man,” he jokes m***aging a bruise on the left side of his head. He shifts his body, winces with pain and grits his teeth before settling back on his seat, calm again.
In the world of conservation, few men have found themselves ******* underneath the legs of an enraged elephant and survived to tell of the encounter. Mr Mwangi, a father of four and a Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) **norary ***den in Voi sub-county is an exception.
His story runs like a script of an action movie.
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On a cloudy Monday morning on June 5, he had just step*** into his bathroom when loud noises and s**uts erupted from outside. From the first floor of his residential **use, he often has a panoramic view of the surrounding region.
He ***ked out of the small bathroom window. Hundreds of residents from Sikujua and Mabomani v***ages were driving a fully-grown elephant with her calf away from the area. Children, women and youths were screaming at the huge beast while hurling stones and twigs at the visibly enraged jumbo.
Occasionally, the animal would turn and trumpet angrily, sending the v***agers ****tering in panic. The v***agers would later re-group and continue their foolhardy ex***ition, oblivious of the mortal peril they were in.
Mr Mwangi’s training and commitment as a ***den kicked in. He jum*** into a pair of s**rts and slip*** into an ***-fitting t-shirt. A licensed ******* **lder, he grabbed a ******* and raced down the stairs while his wife rushed to call for reinforcement from KWS rangers based at Tsavo East National Park headquarters, some few kilometres away.
In retrospect, he says he does not regret walking out of his **use to help the v***agers. “I couldn’t sit back and watch helpless v***agers go after a mother elephant with her baby. That was a catastrophe waiting to happen,” says the burly ***den on his decision to join the residents arguing that the v***agers were una***e of the great danger they were in when provoking an elephant with her calf.
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Once outside, he had a hectic time convincing v***agers, especially women and children, to abandon their perilous quest and return to their **mes. The crowd was too charged to listen to his ***nings. The residents wanted to ‘stone the elephant to *****’ for ****ing their farms.
After long minutes of frantic appeals, sanity finally prevailed and a large section of the v***agers went back to their **mes. **wever, a small group remained. The ***den volunteered to lead in driving away the elephant back to Tsavo East National Park. This would help him buy time until more experienced and better-equip*** KWS rangers arrived.
Accompan*** by a group of ten young men, they trailed the mother and her calf w** were now trudging along the electric fence in search of a gap to get back in protected area. When the jumbo s**wed signs of turning back into settlement areas, Mwangi would **** ***ning ***** in the air to keep it along the fence.
A most terrifying sight
The elephant and its calf was finally cornered into a bushy area at the ****hest point in Mabomani v***age. It would be easy for rangers to find a way to drive the jumbo and her calf back to the park. Mr. Mwangi’s work was done. Or so he t**ught.
He slung his ***** on his s**ulder and started walking back **me. He had barely walked fifty meters when panicky screams from the youth w** had accompan*** him split the air. They were gesticulating wildly pointing at a spot behind him.
The ***den turned and met a most terrifying sight. The mother jumbo he had t**ught was hiding in the bush was charging full-tilt to***ds him; bearing down on his like a wraith from his darkest fears.
At the sight of the flared ears, the maddened trumpeting, the small dark eyes mad with fury, panic immobilised him for a moment. Then he was free and survival instincts kicked in. He took to his heels. And trip***.
He scrambled up again and just when he was about to flee again, a tuft of gr*** caught his foot. He fell again. As he attempted to rise the third time, the angry jumbo was already upon him.
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Keening with fury, the elephant ****d him on the left thigh and hurled him high in the air. He landed on the ground on his left flank. His body ******** in numbing *****.
Medical X-ray report from the **spital would later s**w the fall snap*** four ribs on his left flank and three on the right. Barely conscious, the ***den desperately rolled on his back with hands raised to shield his head.
That probably saved his life as his hands instinctively pushed away the jumbo’s front right leg that would have landed on his face. Instead, the m***ive leg grazed his forehead and his right ear. In all this chaos, his ***** was nowhere to be found.
Hurled into the air
Mr Mwangi was now ******* under the elephant which was trying to whirl around to **** him again. When the jumbo lowered its head, the ***den grip*** the tusks and clung on for dear life. The elephant attempted to shake him off but he tenaciously held on.
Unable to dislodge him from its tusks, it lifted him up and smashed him on the ground in anger. “It broke my pelvic bone and dislocated a hip ***** but I didn’t let go,” narrates the ***den.
In a final move, the elephant hurled him into a plantation of young bamboos where he landed on his back; st*** conscious but too broken to move. Had the elephant charged again, he says he is not sure whether he would have found strength to fight it again.
Luckily, the jumbo seemed to be done with him. The young men w** had been watching from a distance rushed to the scene and dragged him away. KWS rangers would arrive moments later and took down the elephant that had already ****** one woman.
Mr Mwangi was rushed to St Joseph **spital in Ikanga for ****ilisation before he was transferred to Mombasa for specialised treatment. He would insist on being discharged a week later, saying the **spital was too restrictive for his kind of life. “Too many rules on being visited. I wanted to be **me with my family and friends,” he said.
He is attending specialised clinics for observation on **w his ****** are healing. Mr. Mwangi says his miraculous survival was an act of God. He admits that after he trip***, he knew it was all over for him.
Not planning to quit
Having been made a ***den in 2015 following his efforts to help far**** in Kirubi and surrounding areas to fight off elephants in farms, he maintains that he did what he had to do. “I have hel*** drive away elephants from farms for years. I was doing my duty to ***ist the community and avert a cr****,” he said.
He jokingly said that the elephant must have marked him as he has been chasing rogue jumbos from farms in Kirumbi area for over two years since he was made **norary ***den. Despite the near-***** encounter with the elephant, Mr Mwangi is not planning to quit.
He **wever says that a permanent solution to human-wildlife conflict especially for farms adjacent to the national park would be possible if KWS and far**** drafted a commercial agreement over compensation. He adds that KWS s**uld compensate far**** for crops annually while the far**** would in turn act as community scouts to protect the wildlife.
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