He moved forward and at every step he would pause for a few minutes to check our reaction and then continue walking.
All this while we were photographing him at 600mm focal length using the 300mm f2.8 lens mounted with the 2x TC. But at this point he was so close that we had to remove the convertor and shoot at 300mm. While all this was happening, the teenage daughter of one of our friends, who was in the Jeep starting getting a bit scared. She had been completely rattled by another mock charge experience the previous day and was not very happy to see this huge fella move towards our Jeep. We did not want to upset her further and immediately started the Jeep engine. As soon as we did that, the wild Tusker turned and quickly disappeared into the lantana.
We must say that watching a huge male Asiatic Tusker getting larger and larger in your viewfinder is an adrenalin rush and is definitely not for the faint-hearted!!
We have been subject to many a mock charges by Asiatic Elephants. And every experience has been unique and exciting. However, it was the first time that we found a wild Tusker blocking our Jeep and believe us, it was an absolutely thrilling experience! We were exiting the Nagarhole national park when we spotted this huge Tusker standing at a turn in the road. Normally when spotted, wild Elephants quickly move into the latana and hide themselves. But this Tusker was very different. He literally blocked the road and kept moving closer and closer to us, reducing our chances of driving past him.