Safari-goers spotted an elephant with half a trunk and a missing tail in the Moremi Game Reserve, Botswana, on August 21.

The filmer said: " We suddenly noticed one individual in the large herd that looked rather unusual at first sight. As we got closer, we realized what we were looking at. It was pretty unreal and bizarre to see. A fully grown elephant that was missing half its trunk. Being so stunned by this unusual sight, it took us a while to realize that this elephant was also missing most of its tail.

"It looked like this elephant went through a terrible time in its life. All the wounds looked like they have healed many years ago. Despite losing some body parts and looking very unusual, there was nothing unusual about the attitude of this elephant. As we drove past the elephant, it gave us a stern and abrupt warning to not get any closer, shaking its head coupled with a trumpeting noise.

"After speaking to some local field rangers about the elephant, the most likely theory was that this elephant lost part of its trunk in a snare, while the missing tail part might have been a narrow escape from a predator during its younger days. It was incredible to see that the elephant was still looking healthy and carried on with its life normally with the rest of the herd members."

During a recent holiday, we took on a self-drive safari into the Okavango Delta region of Botswana. The country is well known for its spectacular wilderness areas, and it hosts the largest concentration of elephants in the world. You see elephants by the hundreds when visiting any of Botswana’s main wilderness areas. It was during a late morning drive through the Moremi Game Reserve area of the Okavango Delta, that we came across a huge herd of elephants. It must have been our almost tenth big herd of elephants we have seen in just over an hour of driving. With this particular herd there was something very different compared to the others we have seen. We suddenly noticed one individual in the large herd that looked rather unusual at first sight. As we got closer, we realized what we were looking at. It was pretty unreal and bizarre to see. A fully grown elephant that was missing half its trunk. Being so stunned by this unusual sight, it took us a while to realize that this elephant was also missing most of its tail. It looked like this elephant went through a terrible time in its life. All the wounds looked like they have healed many years ago. Despite losing some body parts and looking very unusual, there was nothing unusual about the attitude of this elephant. As we drove past the elephant, it gave us a stern and abrupt warning to not get any closer, shaking its head coupled with a trumpeting noise. After speaking to some local field rangers about the elephant, the most likely theory was that this elephant lost part of its trunk in a snare, while the missing tail part might have been a narrow escape from a predator during its younger days. It was incredible to see that the elephant was still looking healthy and carried on with its life normally with the rest of the herd members.