Ellie Spam!

We woke repeatedly through the night to the sound of torrential rain, but thought it would be all done and dusted by this morning- nope! Absolutely cats and dogs, so what else to do but go and feed elephants in the rain :)

We went to the Knysna Elephant Sanctuary (what3words Cruising.worth.whisked)

It was the most magical experience, and I am so grateful for the opportunity to get so close to these magnificent beasts. They are so gentle creatures, even though they are so huge, and their trunks are so dexterous! I was feeding the them half cantaloupe, which they were picking up no bother and then half passion fruit which they picked up so delicately.

Please forgive the Ellie spam, but they are worth it!

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They were such greedy guts, but they only actually digest 40% of what they eat - the rest of it just goes straight through, and you could see whole oranges in their dung! I wish I only digested 40% of what I ate - think of how much more cake I could eat!

We were really lucky that it was raining so hard as the majority of the group wanted to stay under the shelter, but Emma and I are hardy Cumbrians and used to the rain, so when one guide asked if we wanted to go closer, off we went!

We ended up with our own private experience with a guide all to ourselves, he was called David and was so knowledgeable and clearly loves the animals.

He pointed out the naughty ones, the trouble maker, the best friends and the one who’s tusks they have to ground down because she absolutely hates one of the other Ellies…

The one with one tusk is the matriarch - Sally, she was one of the original 2 elephants, which were why the sanctuary was set up (Harry and Sally, based on a popular movie from the time) She has had one tusk since birth, so not as a result of trauma.

Oh I have so many more pics! But I am trying to ration them.

Elephant facts:

The elephant has been on this earth for 55 million years, and it is unbelievable to me that humans go out and kill these gorgeous gentle giants. Why?

Elephants make a point of looking after other animals - they will forge a path through undergrowth so that other animals can reach a watering hole, they scare off predators and are generally all round goood guys.

That didn’t stop me being nervous when I was close to them…they are huge!

The Ellie’s live with zebras at the sanctuary…

One of which was only 1 week old!

There were 4 other zebras that are one year old.

I have so many pics of zebras too, but as we are off on safari in 2 days I am trying not to swamp you :)

There are so many words that I would use to describe today- emotional (why I was in tears when up

close and personal with these beasts is anyone’s guess) awed, inspired are a few.

The elephants themselves were very calm, they oozed intelligence and wisdom and playfulness and cheekiness. They watched everyone and were clearly on the look out for the tractor coming back with the next batch of prople ‘coz they know they were in for another feeding. As soon as the tractor appeared on the hill they all started moving to the barrier that they know they have to stand behind to get fed - they are so clever!

Once it was time for us to go back to the main building I realised how cold and wet I was - it had not registered until then! I was very happy to find a cafe that had seats by a real fire and that served hot chocolate (who know I would come to Africa and be so cold and wet I would be grateful to sit by a fire!) To be fair we were wet through to our knickers and our feet were soaking too! Emma actually had to wring her socks out when she got back to the hotel!

Soaking wet but still smiling!

We headed up to Knysna Heads on our way back - it is a local beauty spot, and was beautiful, even if it was still pouring down…

(Very proud of myself for learning how to do a collage!)

While we were on the viewing point we saw two whales! Yeah! More magic!!!!

We discovered that our car has a sun roof - perhaps not the day to accidentally find the button to open it…

We came back to the hotel and had a bit of a drive about on the way - we are in a very odd area, not in a town centre, in a kind of industrial business area and by a working harbour - we have been totally spoiled by our last two hotels, and I am sure this one is perfectly nice, it is just not to the standard we have become accustomed to 🤭

We have eaten in the hotel restaurant tonight - it turns out that they think we are full board (and who are we to tell them otherwise!) so tonight Emma had Butter Chicken and I had Ostrich and chips 😂

We also had a couple of very alcoholic cocktails so I am a little tipsy…. Enough said.

Tomorrow we are going to find some huge caves, and we have earmarked a couple of other adventures for us if we have time - goodness knows what we will get up to!