After getting off to a rough start (ugh, Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome), we arrived at the Elephant Sanctuary Hartbeespoort Dam. This Elephant Sanctuary offers elephants a safe place after they are rescued as orphans, privately owned elephants, or other circumstances. However, they don’t stay here forever.
Once there is a private reserve that opens up with space, an elephant is able to go back into the wild and wander free. The reason the Sanctuary allows elephant interactions is because of the money they raise to put back into the Sanctuary to care for them.
Fun Facts About Elephants
Elephants are one of my favorite creatures! Here are a few fun facts about them.
- Trunks are the lifeline of the elephant; without it, they wouldn’t be able to survive.
- Elephants have a better memory than humans.
- Their intestines stretch longer than 100 feet.
- Elephants have cushions in their heels that actually make their feet stand on tiptoe most of the time, so when they step down, the foot will actually spread out and expand.
- They will have 6 sets of teeth throughout their lifetime.
They are amazing creatures all around!
My Experience at the Elephant Sanctuary
The Elephant Sanctuary offers tourists the opportunity to get up close and personal with these gentle giants. They offer opportunities to touch the skin of the elephant (the trunk, tusks, belly, elbow, and back foot).
To my surprise, each section of the elephant felt different – some areas were soft, while some areas were much rougher. Their hair was also extremely wiry!
I felt like a dwarf standing next to these elephants – they can get up to 15,000 pounds, making them the world’s largest terrestrial animal (crazy!). Elephants actually never stop growing throughout their lifetime.
Feeding the Elephants
We were also able to feed them pellets, which they think are treats compared to their usual grass and stick diet. You would walk up to them, hold out your hands, and they would bring their trunk right up to you.
In addition to feeding and touching the elephant, I was given a HUGE smooch right on the cheek (or should I say face). Temba’s trunk covered the whole right half of my face (and it was extremely slobbery)! Sadly, a picture was only captured the second before my favorite animal gave me a kiss, but the memory and the feeling of a trunk suctioning my face will never be forgotten.
Riding the Elephants
After all of these interactions, we had the opportunity to ride an elephant. Even though it was only about five minutes, it was pretty cool to see how high up these gentle giants actually stand and experience the pain in my hip flexors for how much they needed to stretch around the elephant’s back. Not only did we experience interactions with the elephants, we also learned the anatomy behind the largest terrestrial animal.
The sanctuary only allows a quick ride since this is not great for the animals. In hindsight, I probably would have passed up on this opportunity knowing it’s not the best for them.
The Elephant Sanctuary at Hartbeespoort Dam
Seeing and interacting with the elephants at at the Elephant Sanctuary Hartbeespoort Dam was an unforgettable experience, and I can definitely say I already miss hanging out with these cool creatures.
After being worried for the elephants’ safety and well being in partial captivity, visiting the sanctuary made us feel 10x better about them. We also felt better about riding an elephant because we rode bareback, instead of in wooden crates, which cause sores and blisters on the elephants. The elephants only spend about 4ish hours interacting with humans. For the rest of the day, they feed in open fields that simulate more of their natural habitat.
Handlers only use positive feedback training to train the elephants. They reward them with verbal praise and food whenever they do something the handlers want them to do. The sanctuary also only accepts elephants that they are able to hold. Currently, at the time of writing this, they are caring for 12 elephants.
Very cool!
Really enjoying your blog and your writings! Thanks for sharing!