Zhou Zhitao has lost count of the number of times he has encountered wild Asian elephants in the past decade during his work with the forestry authority in Pu'er, Yunnan province.

He once pushed aside a leaf on a banana tree as he made his way through jungle, only to find a herd of roaming elephants just a few dozen meters away. He managed to flee to safety after jumping off a slope, which left him covered in scratches.

Zhou, who heads the authority's wild animal and wetland protection department, advised anyone encountering wild elephants to flee in the hope of finding a gully to jump into, as he has done several times. "The deeper the gully, the better," he added.

A herd of roaming elephants has been making headlines in China and overseas after unexpectedly trekking more than 500 kilometers north from its traditional habitat in Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve, Yunnan.