DAY 145

Today was an extremly long day not because of what we did but because of the time that we spent in the car. After leaving Guinea Fowl Lodge at 6 something in the morning My guide and I drove the couple hours to our first place of the day - 1 word - ELEPHANTS. I basically spent the morning playing with elephants from baby to adults :) I arrived at the Elephant Sanctuary and joined this family who was also there. The first thing we did was pet and brush the elephants. Afterwards we went to the place in the woods were first we sat down and they told us thingsand had the elephants do tricks, like lying down, trumpeting, shaking their heads, bowing, lifting their feet at different times so it looked like the were dancing a bit, and at the end they even gave each person a kiss on the cheek from Tamba :) That was really cool, even though I had to borrow a WET-ONE from this lady afterwards. Here are some of the things that I learneddurning our little lecture. Unlike Asian elephants, you can't teach African elephants by using a stick but by treat rewarding. Also unlike Asian elephants, if you do use a stick to an African elephant it will just hit you back, and you will not come out a winner in the Smackdown. Asian elephants hide in danger, African elephants run, or if they can't run fast enough turn around and run towards the enemy, I guess in the attempt to run over them. Female elephants are pregnate for 22 months. When walking in a group the hold the elephant in front of them's tail. When they kiss you onccy your cheek it is this sort of sucking of their nose. It sounds gross but he use their nose for more than just the obvious, they also use it for talking, picking up stuff, etc... Thier spine is concave, just like a horse. The African elephant's ear is larger than an Asian, but still doesn't go high that then crown of the head, like an Asian elephant, the African's ear is also shaped like the continent of Africa. Also on the elephants the actual ear hole is infront of the actual ear "flap". The lower jaw bone weighs 41.89lbs, those extremely large tusksthat you see weigh 90 lbs. An elephants tauck length depends on the genes of the parents. Theirdung takes 2yrs to break down. In parts of South Africa, in the tribes, the smoke elephant dungfor medicinal purposes. Elephants don't eat their own dung, but if they have diahrea they eatthe dung of a healthy elephant to get the good bacteria to help them. The 3 elephants that weplayed with were Tamba (5yrs/1,433lb), Mabusa (10yrs/3,306.93lbs), and Cumba (15yrs/6,503.64lbs). After all this and even getting to see an elephants skull, I got to do the coolest thing. I got to go on a 20min ride on Cumba. I t felt just like riding a horse with high withers, bare-back. After this amazing time I sat in the restaurant and had something to drink. Near my table there were these really pretty birds. The nests the bilt were even cooler. The malesmake these nest out of grass, etc... into a ball with the opening at the bottom. This is a security measure, so no predetors can come inside. The even better part, that I think is funny, is that if the female doesn't like the nest then the male has to start all over again. After the elephants wedrove over to Pilanesberg. While on the rode to Pilanesberg we past a lot of Platnium mines, which was cool. Our stop was this huge resort place called Sun City. This place is really it's own city, it has a huge casino, waterpark with a beach that had fake waves, 4 huge hotels, 2 clubs, a 5 screencinema, a huge lake, a HUGE golf course, which Africa's Major played on the course, and even a wildlife park. I was going to play at the waterpark, but it started raining so we looked around and then had lunch there. After lunch we went to Kwena Gardens Crocodile Sanctuary. Where I saw the biggest crocodiles ever in my entire life, including TV. After spending an hour or so there we went on to our last and bestest adventure. We drove to the Pilanesberg National Park. Here I went on a 2hr SAFARI!!!!!!!! While on the safari I found out that elephantseat 24/7 and only stop to drink, they also never sleep. There was also at one point that we had to stop the car since the view was AMAZING!!!! I t looked like it should of come out of The Lion King or something.On the safari we saw: Elephants, Giraffes (and albino one), Zebras, Springboks, Hartebeasts, Gnu (other name; Wildbeasts), Wort Hogs, Ostriches, Male Lion, and tons of birds. By the time we left the park was kind of already closed (oops!) and it was already dark. I then arrived back at Guinea Fowl Lodge and watched the sundaynight movie while I ate dinner.

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