Of all the animals we wanted to see in South Africa, elephants were top of the list. Visiting this sanctuary was undoubtedly the highlight of our trip!
We began by taking an elephant for a walk! Each of us was instructed to stand in front of the elephant, hold out the palm of our hand back towards it, and when it placed its trunk in the hand, walk forward. This was fantastic, to have this huge animal walking on your shoulder, with its trunk in your hand, its breath coming in and out (and hot!) on your palm. There followed a demonstration by the handlers of the various ‘tricks’ the elephants could do, before we were invited on a ‘guided tour’ of the animal, allowed to feel/stroke its trunk, ears, side/belly, legs, feet and tail! Just unbelievable! It ended with the photo-opp of my wife holding one of its tusks, myself the other!
The visit ended with us feeding the elephants carrots. When I held out a carrot for the elephant to take it in its trunk, it did, but didn’t eat it straight away. I asked the handler why not, and he replied that it wanted more than one! I gave it another, and it devoured both at once!
A truly memorable visit, and we were able to buy a dvd of the whole experience! It certainly made our day – and our whole trip!!
