A parade of 14 wild Asian elephants was caught taking off with a safari tour and having an adrenaline rush by sliding down a hill slope in southwest China's Yunnan Province.

These elephants have been long wandering around in a much smaller area of the province and are a different herd from the ones who used to live in the Mengyangzi nature reserve of the Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve but took off in a northward migration since March of last year.

Last Sunday, this herd was found celebrating a crazy weekend by going 'sledding' down a hill slope in Lancang Lahu Autonomous County of Pu'er city.

Their cheekiness caught the attention of local monitoring teams, who used drone cameras to film the elephants suddenly rushing down the hill at around 19:00 local time.

As seen in the footage, the elephants, who are a bit afraid of the steep cliff, knelt down on their rear feet as they tried to slow down the thrilling safari tour before they finally made a safe landfall and fed on sugarcane in the field.

Their adventure however has caused crop failures all the way along their route.

Local authorities have started the settlement of claims and paid the compensation to the owners of the damaged farmland, according to Zhou Zhitao, director of the wildlife protection department of Pu'er Forestry and Grassland Bureau.

"We have dispatched monitoring teams to track the whereabouts of the Asian elephants, and send real-time updates on the cell phone of all those living nearby, so local residents can have a clear idea where the wild animals can be expected. On the other hand, we use drones to closely follow the elephants when they wander in areas where our teams cannot reach," he said.

(Cover image via screenshot.)

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