Sunday, August 14, 2011

Kwantu - Elephant Sanctuary

While chopping trees can be fun, we have loved our time at Kwantu's Elephant sanctuary. The sanctuary is home to four adult female elephants, all trained. The elephants spend a majority of their day feeding and wandering on the reserve's land. But they are brought into a barn at night and also fed a variation of elephant kibble. As trained elephants, they are under voice control by their handlers, so we are able to stand next to them while they feed. We can also hand feed them, pet them and we had a chance to ride them as well. In ways more comfortable than a horse because there is more space to sit on, but not as comfortable as a horse because your legs are spread so far apart. One command the elephants know is "trunk", which means the elephant lifts its trunk up and we can put food directly in their mouth - they love fruit (apples,bananas,oranges). I (Betsy) thought this was awesome and got my hand right in there. But as you'll see in the pictures below, Hugh was a little more hesitant but he still did get his hand in there, but very quickly.








When working with wildlife, the word "trained" must be used with an understanding in that at ALL times it is the animal, whether it is an elephant, tiger, or dolphin (not here obviously) that is choosing to cooperate and be trained. It really is always up to the animal. A 150 lb man would never win a fight with an elephant, but the elephant we assume follows commands because it is in her benefit and "feels" her space is being respected. Standing next to an elephant, we are in awe of their size but also how tender and graceful they can be at the same time.


There are also Elephants in the main part of the reserve who are normal "wild" elephants. We were able to see them and occasionally get close but we stayed in the car and they decided how close we'd get. The elephant in the photo below thought we got a little too close, trumpeted, flared it's ears and started a mock charge at us. It was cool.


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