May 07

Stupid Tourist and Elk, Alberta, Canada – Photo Friday

by Chris Christensen Add comments
categories: canada travel tags: alberta, photography

stupid-tourist-and-elk

In last week’s episode of the Amateur Traveler podcast (Travel to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks – Episode 183) we talked a bit about stupid tourist interactions with wildlife. I took this picture near Jasper in Alberta, Canada as this tourist (not someone I knew) was trying to get a picture standing very close to an elk. The animal kept backing away and was clearly very uncomfortable. I was afraid that this was going to end very ugly.

[I have often heard that more people are killed each year in the U.S. and Canada by deer and elk than are killed by sharks. After doing some more research it appears that this comes from the 130 or so people who die when they run into one with their car. I am not sure that is a fair comparison as people run into sharks with their cars much less often.]

What are your stupid tourist pictures?

Do you have any pictures of tourists, like this one, who seem to be trying to make a case for natural selection?

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by Chris Christensen

I am the host of the Amateur Traveler. The Amateur Traveler is an online travel show that focuses primarily on travel destinations and what are the best places to travel to. It includes both a weekly audio podcast, a video podcast, and a blog. I am also the Director of Engineering for TripAdvisor.com/Flights.

+Chris Christensen | @chris2x | facebook

13 Responses to “Stupid Tourist and Elk, Alberta, Canada – Photo Friday”

Dave Peterson

Says:
May 7th, 2009 at 10:47 pm

No photo of this, so you’ll just have to take my word for it. About 15 years ago I was driving through Yellowstone. There were warnings everywhere about staying away from the wildlife in general and the bison in particular. Great pains were taken to state that the bison could run faster than humans, and it would be a good idea to avoid giving them reason to charge. On my way out of the park I saw what looked like an entire tour bus of senior citizens (on foot) sneaking up on a very big bison to take its picture. They were way too close. I was on a moderately busy road, and just kept driving, envisioning bloody carnage moments later. Never heard anything on the news, so I guess they cheated the odds and made it out okay.

Nik

Says:
May 7th, 2009 at 10:49 pm

Lol… agreed… that’s one stupid-looking tourist…

chris2x

Says:
May 7th, 2009 at 11:53 pm

Dave, Erik my guest on the Yellowstone show had a story of a father putting his kid on a bison to take a picture. No amount of signs seem to help.

Caitlin

Says:
May 8th, 2009 at 2:24 am

I don’t have a photo but my friend was on a trip to Uganda and someone in the group was trying to get really close to a hippo for the sake of a photo opp. A HIPPO!

Jen

Says:
May 8th, 2009 at 7:10 am

Yes! We have a picture just like this and a similar story to Dave’s. We were stuck in the middle of the road because everyone had stopped their cars to look at a herd of bison that were right on the side of the road. Seriously, the guy could have touched the bison and all I could think about was the fact that if the guy made the bison mad, our car was going to get charged because we were right next to it. Yikes!

chris2x

Says:
May 8th, 2009 at 7:10 am

A Hippo!

marina

Says:
May 8th, 2009 at 10:23 am

I lived in Colorado for a while and we were constantly hearing gruesome stories of stupid tourists wanting to get intimate pictures with Grizzlies! One was that a mom pushed her kid next to a cub, and of course the mother bear attacked. It’s horrible, but the stupidity behind these pictures always amazed me!!!