re: How to properly scare off a charging brown bear.

quote:

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The urge to turn and run would be damn hard to overcome.

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I was up before sunrise camping out in the Serengeti. It was my and my tent-mate’s time for cooking duty, so we got up early and were walking outside of the tents. We heard a lion growling (presumably at us) and rustling brush/crunching leaves, and it took every bit of my energy to remain calm and not start running. We walked calmly to the enclosed cooking area without turning around to see it, and then once we knew we were safe, the adrenaline dumped. Definitely my most memorable “oh shite” experience. In hindsight, it was probably more of a warning grumble like a “stay away from my babies” thing. If she wanted to attack us, we wouldn’t have heard her. but I say “she” because on safari that morning we rolled past a bunch of her cubs chowing down on a fresh wildebeest, and she was visibly nonplussed to see our land cruiser. She made the exact same noise we had heard as we rolled by. We looked at each other and were like