I guess it is time to write about our elephant safari. Marilyn always mentions that as one great thing we did. Well it was really more of and elephant ride but then it was four kilometers in a game area that has all the standard game animals. It is just that the noise and guide walking with a gun in front of the walk does discourage the animals from sticking around. We did see two warthogs up close, a giraffe far away, and storks in the tree. That was about it.
It was a fun time and we rode the elephant much like you would a horse. Even had the stirrups. The ride took about 45 minutes and then we had time to interact with our elephant. Each elephant has its handler or guide and two riders. Ours was the largest male elephant in the group and I believe he was fourteen years old. The guide has an ample supple of molasses filled
hay pellets in his fanny pack so the elephant is more than happy to perform and get its treat. They told us that was the secret to training African elephants. First attempts to train by force just didn’t work because it is difficult to force and elephant to do anything they don’t want to do. Going up and down some of the steeper paths was interesting but everyone survived. There where 16 of us that where doing the morning ride. One family of four and a couple from Zimbabwe another couple from South Africa joined some of us from the tour to make up the group. Half did the ride while the others had breakfast then we switched.
The interaction after the ride was feeding the elephant and sitting on his leg for pictures. Our guide said that sometimes the warthogs will come in during the interaction because they like the pellets too and there are always some falling to the ground. I will share more on elephants later and as Connie said we really have more elephant pictures than we need but you are always sure this one is better than the last. I won’t mention how many pictures of elephants I have but only that I deleted about twenty.
It was a fun time and we rode the elephant much like you would a horse. Even had the stirrups. The ride took about 45 minutes and then we had time to interact with our elephant. Each elephant has its handler or guide and two riders. Ours was the largest male elephant in the group and I believe he was fourteen years old. The guide has an ample supple of molasses filled
hay pellets in his fanny pack so the elephant is more than happy to perform and get its treat. They told us that was the secret to training African elephants. First attempts to train by force just didn’t work because it is difficult to force and elephant to do anything they don’t want to do. Going up and down some of the steeper paths was interesting but everyone survived. There where 16 of us that where doing the morning ride. One family of four and a couple from Zimbabwe another couple from South Africa joined some of us from the tour to make up the group. Half did the ride while the others had breakfast then we switched.The interaction after the ride was feeding the elephant and sitting on his leg for pictures. Our guide said that sometimes the warthogs will come in during the interaction because they like the pellets too and there are always some falling to the ground. I will share more on elephants later and as Connie said we really have more elephant pictures than we need but you are always sure this one is better than the last. I won’t mention how many pictures of elephants I have but only that I deleted about twenty.
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