Wilderness has confirmed that an 80-year-old female American guest was tragically killed by a bull elephant while on a game drive at its Kafue National Park destination in Zambia on Saturday (March 30).

Over the weekend, video footage of the incident was widely distributed amongst the industry. The origin of distribution is not known.

In a statement, Wilderness further confirmed that another female guest was also injured in this incident, when an aggressive bull elephant charged the vehicle carrying six guests and a guide who were on a game drive from Lufupa Camp. The injured guest was taken to a private medical facility in South Africa while the other four guests received treatment for minor injuries. Trauma counselling has been provided to all involved.

“At around 09h30 on Saturday, the six guests were on the game drive when the vehicle was unexpectedly charged by the bull elephant. Our guides are all extremely well trained and experienced, but sadly in this instance the terrain and vegetation were such that the guide’s route became blocked and he could not move the vehicle out of harm’s way quickly enough” said Keith Vincent, Wilderness CEO.

According to Vincent, Kafue National Park management were immediately called to assist and they dispatched a helicopter to the scene. Given the nature of the incident, the police, the Department of National Parks & Wildlife, and other authorities are involved in investigating the matter. Wilderness is co-operating fully with this process.

“This is a tragic event and we extend our deepest condolences to the family of the guest who died. We are also, naturally, supporting those guests and the guide involved in this distressing incident. Out of sympathy to the family of the deceased and the other parties involved, it is requested that parties refrain from distributing any images or video footage of the incident on social media.

“Meanwhile our teams will continue to support the family of the deceased, as well as those guests and staff impacted by this event. We will also be guided by the Zambian Government on the way forward,” said Vincent.

The deceased will be repatriated to her family in the US with the support of local Zambian authorities and the US Embassy in Lusaka.