Elephants!

It's 3:25 pm and I just got back from an elephant ride, which was absolutely incredible. The elephant I rode is the oldest elephant here - a female 23 years old named Amai (Uh-may). She was a sweetheart and throughout the ride kept picking up rocks and tree branches with her trunk, in trade for a treat. I insisted that the elephant handler keep giving her treats! She even stopped at a tree and carefully broke off a huge branch, using her tusk to peel the bark away from the tree. What an amazing thing to watch from on top of her back! She kept asking for treats and if we took too long to give her a treat, she's make noises through her trunk. The handler would say, "Louder noise, Amai!" and she'd blast her trunk even louder. It was a very relaxing ride because you just gently sway back & forth and you're sitting up high and get a great view of the plains. One of the other elephant handlers took a video of it for me, so that will give me something to watch later tonight.

Next up in about an hour I have elephant herding, where we get to interact with the elephants and walk with them out in the bush. I'm really looking forward to that! You probably already know this, but elephants have great memories. Amai's handler told me that if I returned in a year, she'd remember me! How amazing is that?

I'll try to get some good shots during elephant herding so hopefully I can post some pics of the elephants.

That's it for now.