Aussie dad’s chips save family from elephant on Sri Lanka safari

The family from Western Australia thought they were done for, facing a hungry 5-tonne elephant. Photo / Unsplash

A terrifying encounter with a raging elephant on a Sri Lanka family holiday has won praise for an Aussie dad, who kept a cool head when the chips were down.

Kasun Basnayake, of Perth, was being driven with his family through Yala National Park in a hired vehicle on Monday, when they were ambushed by a hungry tusker elephant. The moment was caught on video by the family on safari, as the elephant smashed through their hire car’s window, searching for food.

Even the driver was taken by surprise as he tried to put the vehicle into reverse. They were unable to stop the tusk breaking open the car window and a hungry trunk rummaging through the gap.

The incident could have been even uglier had it not been for the dad’s quick reactions.

The driver who was escorting the family told them it was probably after food and told them to give it what it wanted.

“It started sniffing around our feet for food and the driver told us to give it anything we had so I fed it my son’s leftover sandwich,” Basnayake told the BBC.

“Those sandwiches and chips probably saved our lives.”

This is what happens when elephants get used to being fed by humans in passing vehicles!! pic.twitter.com/t56QpEIA9y

— Evarts (@r_evarts) December 12, 2023

Despite damage to the vehicle, no one was injured in the elephant encounter.

The incident took place on Culp Temple Road, a popular tourist route taking visitors to the Situlpauwa shrine inside the park.

In recent years the elephants in the reserve have become accustomed to visitors and their food. It’s not unheard of for the 5-tonne animals to help themselves.

The video, which surfaced on social media site X, prompted a discussion with many saying they had experienced similar behaviour from the animals.

“In most countries it is forbidden to feed wildlife,” reads one response. “But in Sri Lanka we’ve moved to the next level ... elephants have become highway bandits.”

Others praised the family for their apparent calmness in the face of an enormous pair of tusks.

Yala National Park in southeast Sri Lanka is an area of almost 130,000ha and home to a herd of about 300-500 elephants.

Local guides take sightseers into the park, one of the best places to see the subspecies of Asian elephant.