ELEPHANT TRAMPLES GERMAN TOURIST TO DEATH IN ZIMBABWE

On Wednesday, at the Mana Pools game reserve in Zimbabwe, an elephant trampled a woman to death after apparently leaving the protection of her vehicle.

Reports from a wildlife official from Northern Zimbabwe say that a 49-year-old German woman has been trampled to death by an elephant at the Mana Pools game reserve as she tried to photograph it.

The name of the woman has not been released by officials.

Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority spokesperson, Tinashe Farawo, said "The information we have is that the tourists encountered a herd of elephants when they were entering the park and they started taking pictures. We do not know what irritated the animals which resulted in the woman being attacked. She passed on last night [Wednesday] from injuries."

Apparently, he said, she exited the vehicle and was moving towards the animals to take pictures when the creature struck.

It remains unclear if her actions aggravated the animal but Farawo made it clear that "visitors are always warned to keep a safe distance from the wild animals when visiting the reserve."

According to reports, Zimbabwe has a population of around 84,000 pachyderms, with interactions between humans and elephants an often occurrence as humans encroach on their territory.

Last year a tour guide in Victoria Falls was trampled by a trained elephant while another Zimbabwean man was also killed in a separate incident when he tried to drive elephants into the open to take pictures.