When were you last really scared?We'd been watching the Shining. We were staying in an old church building. In hindsight, taking the shortcut home after midnight, in the mist, through the old graveyard was a bad idea.
I'm not sure what started it, but suddenly all the hairs on my neck had gone up and I was crapping myself. It was almost as bad as when, after a few cups of coffee too many and buzzing on caffeine, I got freaked out by my own reflection in the toilets.
When were you last really scared?
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chthonic, Thu 22 Feb 2007, 15:43)
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Death by elephantJust after I had left university (and was therefore broke) my mate got married in South Africa so a load of us used it as an opportunity for a 2 week holiday out there.
The week before the wedding a bunch of us decided to go on a cut-price safari that basically meant all piling into a tiny Suzuki van (the kind they normally sell sandwiches from) with a guide a drive for around 6 hours north of Durban.
After a night spent in a camp that had no electricity, 1 tap and a bucket shower we drove another 2 hours to the park. When we got the park the warden handed us this leaflet saying the elephants were really pissed off at the moment and were likely to step on you if you got out of your car. The last thing they said to us as we drove off was "DO NOT GET OUT OF YOUR CAR!!!".
The night before had been really stormy and 5 minutes into the park, we saw that the road was blocked with a fallen tree. Either side of the road was a big ditch, beyond which was tall grass, bushes etc. We could see that someone (probably in a 4x4) had driven into the ditch and around the tree before us.
The guide asked whether he thought we should try the same. Me, being the sensible one, pointed out that the van had wheels like a pram but the other spazzes in the van thought that we should go for it.
Funnily enough 1 minute later we were stuck with the wheels whizzing around. "Right, everyone out and push" says the guide. "What about the fucking pissed off elephants?" I say. Again, the spazzers I was with ignored me and jumped straight out. Not wanting to look like a complete wuss, I got out to help.
This was one of the scariest moments of my life. Apart from being squashed by elephants I had visions of Velociraptors jumping out of the bushes just like in Jurassic park and picking us off one by one.
Luckily, and not surprisingly, we were neither stepped on nor eaten and after 10 minutes of pushing and getting caked in mud, we managed to get van back onto the road.
(, Fri 23 Feb 2007, 17:37, Reply)
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