Elephants, Elephants, ELEPHANTS!!!!

Hello Everyone!!

This past week has been one of the best weeks of my life. Lets be honest, the sole reason I came to Africa was to play with elephants. Finally, that's pretty much all we did this week. I'll go ahead and apologize early for my obsessing.

Monday we were supposed to leave for Addo Elephant National Park and Samara Game Reserve. I was awaken by a knock at the door saying that our trip was cancelled due to the weather. I mentioned that it had poured all weekend so there was lots of flooding and apparently the rain made the dirt road in the parks inaccesible. Needless to say, I had a small panic attack.

We were picked up and taken to the university for a lecture at 10:00. We were given a lecture by Craig Tambling on game reserves and the best way for them to function. He told us we would be going to Addo on Wednesday, but that they were still trying to find a place for us to go the next day. He studies lions and big carnivores and how they affect game reserves and would be going with us on our trip. I suggested we go to Addo for both days ( my way of getting two days of elephants) and he agreed!!!!!!!!!!!!

We left for Addo the next day. Craig told us that there are approximately 4 elephants per square kilometer in the park so I was obviously ecstatic. We drove in and were greeted by warthogs. They were EVERYWHERE throughout the park. Craig told us that they are an invasive species and breed like crazy so the park has a big issue on their hands. Some of the lions at Addo have VHF collars on so he brought a receiver that would allow us to track them down. We would stop at most high points to try and find them. About 20 minutes into our time in Addo I spotted the first elephants. They were pretty walking through the bush pretty far away from us. I was beyond excited. We kept on driving through the park and about 15 minutes later we came across...... ELEPHANTS NEXT TO THE ROAD!!!!!! There were 3 bulls eating on the side of the road. Addison and I were sitting in the front seat and Addison had a window seat, but it was on the opposite side of where the elephants were. Our chaperone was sitting by the window right next to them and wasn't too into the trip...UGH, I almost kicked her out of the van. We backed up in hopes they would walk in front of our van, but they turned around and walked the other way. It didn't matter because I was within 50 feet of my favorite animals on earth. I was seriously considering running out of the van and hugging them.

We continued on our way and had a picnic lunch. We never got to see lions, but we did get to learn a ton about them and how they can affect game reserves. We successfully tracked them down, but since the bush is so thick we were never able to see them. Lions are obviously a huge tourist attraction, but they eat a ton so they can severely affect the prey populations on the reserve and can be expensive to maintain (electric fences, extra food, etc.) We did, however, see over 40 elephants. We saw 4 HUGE bulls by a watering hole. One of them walked right past our window. Elephants are absolutely beautiful and unbelievably huge. I thought my day was going to be awesome, but it was 8,000 times better than I could have ever expected. To say I was happy would be an understatement. I was awe-struck and am an even bigger elephant-lover now. I think I had a huge smile glued on my face and I just couldn't get enough of them. We left Addo and on our way out got to see tons of elephants grazing in the bush. I was so excited that we were returning the next day to learn about elephants.

We met our teacher Marietje (pronounced: Mah-ree-key...I don't get it either) who works with elephants and rhinos. I noticed that we both had elephant rings on the same hand AND the same finger so I immediately assumed we were soul sisters. Within 5 minutes of entering the park a family group of elephants walked past us. They were probably within a foot of our van. It was one of the coolest things I have ever seen. I could actually look them right in the eye. I took a lot of pictures, but I didn't want to miss a thing so I just stopped and watched. They really are beautiful. There were three babies in the family group. Side Note: Family groups are females and their children. The mothers are usually all related. The bulls leave the family groups when they are 15 years old or so and take off to living on their own or form bachelor groups. Marietje told us that there are 640 (!!!!!!!!!!!!!) elephants throughout all of Addo. Addo covers a very large area in South Africa, it's one of the largest national parks they have. They also have 60 black rhino in the park. I asked if the rhinos had been de-horned to prevent poaching and she said no and that Addo had had no poaching issues which I thought was AMAZING.

She told us that Addo was created in 1931 to conserve the 16 elephants that survived a government-mandated decree to kill the 3,000+ elephants that had been living in that area and had been causing problems for the citrus farmers. All of the elephants that are living in the park are descendants of those 16. Elephants are pretty disruptive to the area that they live in. The areas that they had been grazing in looked a little but like a tornado had gone through. They also seriously affect the vegetation since they eat a ton and for about 16 hours a day. The vegetation, especially the vegetation that they like takes a VERY long time to grow back. Since the park aims to conserve biodiversity they have to consider the elephants affect on the vegetation and try to save it. They have currently been expanding the park to try and accommodate the growing elephant population and trying to help the vegetation grow back. However, you can't expand forever. She told us that the park is probably going to have to turn to culling ( killing :( )the population. She said that they need to remove about half of the population. I asked about contraception for the elephants, but she said that would be costly and hard to achieve since all of the females would have to be given the contraception. She also said that it would be very costly to relocate some of the elephants and wouldn't be a realistic option. If being a psychologist proves to be a lucrative profession for me I'm buying a ton of land and starting an elephant park and saving all of the elephants that I can. On our way back I was tearing up thinking about how special the day had been. I was thinking about how much I would of liked to share it with each of you reading this blog! Addison showed me the video of the elephants walking past us he had taken set to some music from the Lion King and I lost it and started sobbing. Seriously, one of the coolest things I've ever gotten to witness.

Yesterday, we turned in our portfolios and Addison and I visited the Kwantu Elephant Sanctuary. I asked several people about the treatment of the elephants in these sanctuaries and they all sad that they heard these places were good places to visit. They have 4 elephants at the sanctuary and they are all female. We were able to ride and feed the elephants. The elephant riding was cool, but my favorite thing was feeding them because I used it as a chance to feel all over the elephants. They said that they had trained the elephants which was a little concerning to me because I have read A LOT about elephant training and it can be pretty brutal. I asked the guys how they trained them and they said that they rewarded the elephants. When we climbed on them I noticed that the trainers had bull hooks in their hands which I really didn't like. Addison said his trainer was very kind to his elephant and I noticed that the other trainers were nice to theirs, but I thought my guy was kind of mean. Of course, these are wild animals and if i want to be allowed to touch them then of course they have to be trained. It was an AMAZING experience none-the-less. I just really wanted to touch elephants and I finally got to. I loved feeding them and touching their trunks. Their trunks are so strong and their skin is tough. They have big brown eyes with long eyelashes. They are the most beautiful things on earth. I'll probably never have another chance to touch an elephant and I am so glad that I got to do so.

Today we just hung around Port Elizabeth. We leave tomorrow at 1:30 to head back to AMERICA! South Africa has been an amazing experience and I'm so glad I got to share it with such an awesome travel partner. I'm not entirely sure how Addison handled me the past couple days. I'm surprised his hand/leg didn't fall off after all of the squeezing it endured due to my excitement. I'm sure after the 472nd time that I told him elephants were beautiful and that I loved them he wanted to tape my mouth shut, but he didn't and he shared my excitement. What a trooper! I promise, I've tried to get him to blog with me, but he's opted out. I promise that we'll compose a cool blog post tomorrow on our way out all about our experience and I'll beg him to write some.

I'm so excited to see all of you guys! We love you guys!


It's almost time for the Olympics! I'm so ready! I tear up on almost all of the commercials. Especially the one about the guy who tears his hamstring and his dad helps him cross the finish-line. It gets me every time.

We've been watching the news and our thoughts and prayers go out to the people in Aurora, CO. What a tragedy. 

Love you all so much!

Natalia and Addison