Walking With Elephants

The Elephant Sanctuary near Plettenberg Bay is a fun place to visit and we had a great time there. I hope you'll all get to enjoy something of it too in the following pictures. :)

The Sanctuary is a temporal home for young elephants who sadly lost their mothers to poachers or were themselves injured by poachers or snares. 

Here we met the elephants and got ready to walk with them, with the guide explaining a few things to us. As far as size goes, these elephants are still considered 'small' and they can grow much larger.

Part of the walk through the forest. As it's Winter, the forest isn't as lush and green as it would be in Summer. It's surprising how fast the elephants walk, we had to do a brisk step to keep up with them.

In a forest clearing we were given a demonstration and talk about the elephants and were also allowed to touch them. One can just marvel at how amazing God made each creature!

Having a look at the elephant's teeth and tongue. :P 

The elephants hides are extremely thick and rough - they feel more like thick, hard rubber mats than like skin.

Mom walking back with one of the elephants. It's so sweet the way they "hold" your hand with their trunks, though I must tell you that the trunks are quite a weight!

After the walk we fed 'treats' (chunks of pumpkin) to the elephants. 

An extra-exciting experience for Jessica and I was going for a ride on an elephant.  :)

Very different to riding a horse! :D 

The elephants walk in single-file holding each others tails - they often do this in the wild too as a way of bonding and keeping contact with the herd.

All in all a great day and a wonderful experience to spend time with these amazing creatures. :)