Elephant Walk Safaris Part 2

When we last left off, we were riding elephants and trying to figure out the best way to sit (OUCH!) I found that if I curled my legs back I could put more weight on my shins and take the weight off my tailbone which was straddling a very narrow elephant spine. Until my legs fell asleep that is...
We got off the elephants and the handlers had them get down low and sit. This let us get up close without coming up to their knees!
Such cool creatures!
This one was Teddy and Jeff's Elephant.
We walked with the elephants all the way back to the lodge, watching them forage, asking questions and learning more about them. Then we got to give them a big "thank-you" by feeding them a bucket of their favorite pellets. You could drop handfuls of pellets into their upturned trunks....
...or yell "Trunk up!" and toss the pellets right into their mouths!
Teddy and Jeff feeding their elephant
After their snack the elephants went around the lake, stopping for a drink and some water play and then took off into the bush for some free time.
Every time we left the lodge we came back to a beautiful table and a delicious meal!
After lunch we took off in the Land Rover to go on a game drive. As it is still spring-time here the reserve was full of baby animals!
Impala. Check out the mom and baby to the right in the picture.
Teddy being our animal spotter:
These guys are called some kind of 'bok' or deer but I can't remember which kind. They had about 8-9 babies with them.
This baby giraffe was only one month old!
The game drive was awesome and we went all over. Some of the "roads" we traveled over were insane, and we went up really steep hills and over rivers. The driving was as fun as the game viewing!
When we got back monkeys were all over the place. This one even came into the lodge until he was chased back out. They are very bold and will come in to try to raid your food. Of course we know all about this because all the bananas in our kitchen got eaten by monkeys last week...
They are fun to watch though and a few of the females had little wrinkly-faced babies clinging on to their tummies.
The next morning we had a fabulous breakfast and then said good-bye to our wonderful hosts at the Safari lodge.
We all piled into the Land Rover for the short drive to the airstrip.
I got this cool shot of the Rover and the landscape as they were prepping the plane.
It was hard to tell who was more excited about our short flight out, the kids or Daddy!
All ready for take-off!
When we landed back where we had left our car we had a few friends waiting for us on the runway. Zebras and Wildebeest are just one of the hazards of African air travel!
For our first overnight safari experience in Africa, we had a pretty awesome weekend. It was a great way to celebrate Jeff turning 40!

VIDEO OF MONKEYS AND OTHER CREATURES HERE.

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