Elephants are huge. I don’t mean to be Captain Obvious, but it’s true. Looking back, the elephants that we saw weren’t even that big, but still, they are huge creatures. We spent the morning of the 4th day of the trip hanging out with elephants. We drove to a kind of elephant orphanage - also known as the Knysa Elephant Park. This park is home to about 10 African elephants that were rescued for various reasons. Occasionally baby elephants are either abandoned or their mother is killed. The park rescues these orphans and then keeps them in captivity where they end up becoming accustomed to being fed and followed around by tourists. Although it was kind of strange to see how trained the elephants were and how well they knew the routine their trainers had made for them, it was still pretty cool to see these beautiful (and extremely wrinkly) creatures up close. Zaas and I fed one elephant whole carrots, squash and various other vegetables. We held the vegetable in our hand and then held it out for the elephant to pick it up with its trunk. The trunks were quite strong, but also really gentle and kind of whiskery feeling. After feeding them, the elephants moved out into a field and in groups followed them around. We only spent about 30 minutes with the elephants before leaving. The highlight of this activity was giving an elephant a kiss on the trunk. It was quite nice and I swear the elephant blushed.
We spent the afternoon walking around a small coastal town walking the streets and then we went to the beach later on. Zaas and I went for a run and we had a storm in front of us and one coming in from behind. We got caught in the rain, and watched lightning striking some distance away. It was a little scary but it was neat to see the storm approaching.
Yup - that's my hand almost up an elephants nose. There's the phrase that you can't pick your nose or your friends nose, but I hear that it's alright to pick an elephants nose.
They're so wrinkly!!!
Watch your step! There was so much poop and it was huge. (Just so you know - I didn't actually step in the poop.)
Elephants have weird feet.
Baby elephants!
Fun facts about elephants:
Elephants have molars that grow in at intervals throughout their life. I think they have 6 sets of molars. Once the last set has grown in and then worn down, the elephant essentially starves. (Not quite a fun fact - but an interesting one).
Elephants have the longest gestation period - 22 months (sounds pretty miserable).
Elephants live in groups of around 15 and are led by a matriarch (rock on!!).
An elephant joke:
Why did the elephants get kicked off the beach?
Answer: Because they were walking around with their trunks down. :)
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