PassElephant
Where: On rural roads running through or alongside game reserves, conservancies and known elephant corridors — most often in Limpopo, Mpumalanga, the lowveld and northern KwaZulu-Natal.
Purpose: To warn that elephants may be on the road or about to cross it. Elephants move quietly for their size, often at dusk and dawn, and a herd can be on the road before you have seen the first animal.
Action Required by Driver: Reduce speed immediately and be ready to stop. If elephants are on or beside the road, stop at a distance and wait — do not drive through a herd, and never put yourself between a cow and her calf. Switch the engine off if they come close, keep windows up, and do not hoot or rev: a startled elephant can turn on a vehicle. Move off only when the road is completely clear.
Why it is its own sign
The manual carries three separate animal signs — elephant, warthog and hippo — in addition to the general wild animals sign. A triangle with a specific animal in it tells you what kind of hazard to expect, and an elephant is a very different hazard from a warthog. In the test, watch for options that offer the generic “wild animals” answer when the picture clearly shows one species.