Filming the Jahai Tribe in Malaysia

By Giles Pike (September 2010)

I've never encountered an elephant before outside a zoo. Yet here I am staring an elephant right in the eye - neither of us blinking.

It's 2 am in the morning in a Malaysian jungle. I've just woken up in my tent that I share with Hayden Turner - the presenter of the production that we are currently working on. I looked out across the tent and saw a beautiful moonlit night through the window. Then I turned to look through the window next to me and saw only darkness.

Then the darkness blinked. It took a few seconds for my groggy brain to register that I was looking at an elephant and all that separated us was the thin wall of our little camping tent! It's the real life scene from Jurassic Park, when the Tyrannosaurus Rex is staring at them....gulp.....

I hear a soft whisper. Hayden says, "Don't move." No problem there, I am frozen on the spot. The next moment the elephant loses interest in me and wanders off. Phew, that was close, but I freeze again when I hear the elephant trashing the makeshift toilets just a short distance from our tent. But after a while he loses interest in that too, so both Hayden and I conclude that he must have finally left.

Sleep is of the essence. Every day is long in the jungle and shooting starts early tomorrow morning and we are exhausted. So, despite the big scare we fall asleep again, hoping that no other jungle creatures (like tigers, for instance) come sniffing around our sleeping quarters.

But two hours later we are awakened once again. Something is feeling the ground underneath our tent floor. It doesn't take us long to figure out that the elephant must have decided to come back. Hayden is literally bumped out of his bed as the elephant pushes his trunk underneath our tent. He's sweeping the area ...for what? Maybe the soft, squidgy humans covered in deet and sunscreen just smell interesting? Maybe it's the toothpaste in our bags on the floor- apparently spearmint smells wonderful to them!

Fact or not, there isn't time to contemplate that tit-bit of information, because the next moment the elephant starts pulling our tent. The guy ropes, tied to the stakes which hold the tent in place, snap. We're being dragged away by an elephant!

Hayden keeps on softly telling me to stay calm, not to say anything. We are now in a heap at the bottom of the tent and Hayden is reaching for a knife (Holy cow, he's going to stab the elephant!?). Then he signs he's going to cut open the tent at the back so we can jump through the hole and make a run for it. But it's a seriously risky option, because if we scare this animal and it rushes forward, we are at risk of being trampled.

I'm scared out of my wits. "Do something, you're the elephant expert!" I whisper to Hayden. I can see his mind working overtime, and know he's also getting scared. Things have gone from thrilling to frightening. All that's going through my mind is that we need to make a quick decision, and the wrong one could be fatal.

Hayden then picks his weapon, his voice.....and he makes a deep chesty cough (similar to animals that elephants dislike, such as a large aggressive wild boar).

Hayden's cough could mean anything. Who knows? But the next moment the jungle giant drops the tent (with us in it!) turns around and off he goes. Just like that - without explanation and silently into the night. We lie in the dark, with the tent on top of us, both silent, as we try to process what just happened.

Hayden has worked with elephants in the wild and captivity for 20 years and reckons it's the most "thrilling"' encounter he has ever experienced. Needless to say his definition of 'thrilling' differs quite substantially from mine!