Let me start by saying that I would have shit my pants and been killed.
That said, you don't run from elephants, they will chase you. Also, most charges are just threats, trying to find out if you are a threat to them or not. You can look at their ears and see if it's a threat or not (ears back vs ears loose). Being Thai, and probably knowing a thing or two about elephants, the guy in the video saw his ears and stood his ground instead of running, which was probably the right thing to do at the moment.
It doesn't always work out for the human, but if you run he will chase you, be it on foot or in a car or whatever. You don't have too many options really, but standing still is one of them. Waving his hand at him was probably an attempt (that worked) to shoo him off. My guess anyway. It could have also been dumb luck, but the guy wasn't afraid at all so I'd wager he may know about elephants. They run wild in certain parts of the country here and those in elephant areas generally know how to deal with them.
|