Tom Siebel on Being Gored by an Elephant | Hacker News Reader

Tom Siebel on Being Gored by an Elephant

forbes.com

62 pointsgrellas19 comments

I work fairly often in the field in Kenya, and am frankly just shocked that they were offered a "walking safari". At the Ol'Pejeta Conservancy where I work, the rules are simple: stay inside the vehicle at ALL times. There simply isn't the option to get out of the car, EVER. Elephants are the same everywhere, and this is a terrible omission that ended in an unfortunately inevitable way.

If you've ever had a male bull elephant plan on getting frisky with your land rover, you'll never even consider a "walking safari", which (come to think of it) sounds like a monumental recipe for disaster. By the way, should you find yourself in that situation (in a car), don't drive away -- rev the engine as loudly as you can and try not to soil yourself.

Upvoted, but curious...why is this good advice? Can the car not outrun the elephant. Is the elephant afraid of the engine? Does the elephant outmatch the car's velocity? Because you can be sure I would get the hell out of there as fast as possible.

Those elephants can run very, very fast if they're pissed off, and among other reasons, the savannah isn't straight-line driving for the most part. Elephants like to frequent parts that are heavy scrub, which limits straight-line speed. Besides, the land rovers out there are generally very old and really not capable of exceeding 50 km/h.

But...shouldn't you take your chances?? I mean, stay, hope they are afraid of the engine, and if they're not get obliterated: or run and risk them catching you? I think I'd take the second option.

I lived in Kenya in the summer of 2000. Back then, Tanzania was popular for gonzo tourists (and hunters) because they had more relaxed safari regulations.

By the way, should you find yourself in that situation (in a car), don't drive away -- rev the engine as loudly as you can and try not to soil yourself.

I was thinking more like Browning M2 or Oerlikon 20mm with a cut down barrel. Bofors 40mm is probably a bit much, but I wouldn't want to ignore Ruark's "use enough gun" dictum.

Guns are banned in the Ol'Pejeta Conservancy, except for the staff (I just have a research permit), and even then only to use against poachers. I've seen some serious firepower at the research center, but strictly for use against poachers.

From the title I thought he was referring to Siebel Software being bought out by Oracle

I knew some wall street traders who dropped out and moved to Tanzania for 2 years and had a sapling plantation. They say the locals burn the forests down around their villages because they are habitats for wildlife they hate, namely elephants and lions that routinely kill people.

the classic, "Shooting an Elephant": http://www.online-literature.com/orwell/887/

an interesting story... ruined by... the editor's criminal overuse... of ellipses

Yeah, why was it written like that?

I think it's transcript style. I didn't find it annoying. I think it added a subtle intensity and captivation which added to my experience.

What was annoying was that the last two paragraphs were on

the second page.

Don't get me wrong, I know about spreading pages over multiple pages is supposed to help increase page views. But this was just so ridiculously short and unevenly distributed that it was extremely annoying.

The guide missed the elephant from 5 yards away. Was it just a warning shot?

I thought this was awesome. Being able to recount such a horrific event in that calm manner is an immense display of mental fortitude.

Great story. The ending was quite humorous:

I [still] have the iPhone that was in my left front pocket that basically exploded . . . it's now in about 200 pieces. . . and I have been meaning to send it back to Steve Jobs for a refund.

Basically shit happens, and the poor guy had a really bad day. It's a good thing he can take it all in his stride.

They should have flown him to South Africa for surgery instead of 20 hours to San Jose.

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