It was during a late afternoon safari in the Kruger National Park when I stopped my vehicle on a small dirt road to view a herd of elephants ahead of us. The herd seemed calm and were busy feeding. Together with my safari tourists, we admired the beauty of these creatures, going about their business out in the African wild. While everyone was focused on what was going on in front of us, I heard the footsteps of an elephant on the dirt road, right behind our vehicle. I looked into my side mirror and saw only the trunk of this elephant that suddenly appeared out of nowhere. I said to everyone to be dead still and quiet. At first the elephant bull just stood there behind the vehicle with his trunk smelling the air. I had no clue what his next move could possibly be. All I knew was that you have to be still and quiet when they get this close. The next moment the bull elephant appeared in full in my side mirror and I could see the big boy was looking pretty relaxed while hanging loose. I thought the elephant would then come past us, but through the bush on the side of the road as they normally do. Not this elephant bull, he was staying on the road. This massive elephant slowly walked right up next to me where he stopped for a brief moment, lifting his trunk to right in front of my face to get a good sniff. This was a heart racing moment for me, and I think I skipped a few heart beats in those few seconds. Luckily the elephant seemed calm after his investigative smelling, and slowly moved past my door before then only turning back into the bush. All my safari guests were stunned by the brief but very close encounter with such a massive animal out in the wild.