I have sympathy with them and just glad I haven't experienced such a terrible accident, but the story around not be able to move either away forward or backwards seems strange.
It took a few minutes to decide to move off, but on the last second Jans got the car in reverse. Under normal circumstances its very difficult to get a Volkswagen in reverse from the passenger side as you need to push slightly pass the 1st gear while pushing in the button. A bit of a nick to get it in although reverse easier than 1st gear. I am starting to think this was an automatic car and in panic moved the gears slightly too far up or down. Can't proof any thing, but either way auto/manual why didn't he get it into reverse the 1ste time when she struggled.
During my last Kruger visit I thought we were going to experience the same fate as them, but the actions I took was totally different. About 50 - 80 m from an elie in the road I stopped to see if it is relax and if we can pass. The next moment it came storming towards us with the head moving form side to side. Their elie was actually peaceful compare to the one I had to negotiate with. My first thought was not a 2/3 point turn. That would have taken way too much time and only option was reverse flat out with my eyes on the mirror and SO watching the elie. Only when we started getting more speed than the elephant and distance could I attempt a safe 2 point turn. (this was my best performance ever in reverse

)
Not sure how she thought that she could do that turn in less time when the elephant was right next to their car.
