The wilderness of Damaraland, Kaokoveld, Chobe, Moremi and the Okovango swamps. We traveled, in four weeks, over ten thousand kilometers, much over nearly impassable 4x4 trails. On our car alone the Kaokoveld pierced eight tires in two weeks. We navigated by GPS, camped in our own tents, and were often far away from fuel, water, food and medicine. We were nine adventurers, in four all-terrain vehicles. We had extensive experience in the African bush and loved to rough it.

It happened at the Purros campside in the Kaokoveld desert. We had just erected our tents for the night when I spotted a huge desert elephant browsing on a bush perhaps 100 meters away. I took my camera, approached the elephant within perhaps 30 meters, and started taking photographs. My companions warned, "come back Karl, you are in his territory". One last picture. The elephant charged, I ran for my life, fell and - the elephant was on top of me. I miraculously escaped uninjured and managed to jump into a car. Then we were quiet, an eternity, and I was trembling as the adrenaline level sank. The elephant spent all night around our campsite but calmed down (see photo). I had learnt my lesson.