Heffalumps

You would think sticking your hand in a slimmey trap of an elephant mouth would be cool, because who does that? Well, I did not dig it.  I’m one of those hippie kids who thinks animals should be in an open space left to their own natural ways and not trained by humans to make a mockery of their intelligence by making them walk around in circles and kneel down just for our entertainment.  Plus, it was really gross. I like elephants, but not when they sneeze on your arm and you end up awkwardly trying to clean yourself of elephant mucus...

It was an unplanned visit to the Kwantu Elephant Sanctuary. My gran and uncle basically kidnapped me for a day and we ended up there. It was a very strange day. Was something out of a spud novel. My relatives can be...peculiar.  My uncle was being himself, and as usual asked his yearly question “so, do you have a boyfriend yet?” that’s ALWAYS the first question he asks me.  Then he went on a long talk about when he lived in Grahamstown during the war (???) and would go surfing in East London.  Yaaa, I’m not so sure hey. But I love them for their quirks.

If you’re into getting up close and personal with animals, I would suggest this place. It’s not that bad, they seem to take good care of their elephants and that one albino antelope that lurks around. They have another park somewhere across the valley and they have tigers. I know I won’t be going there, but different strokes for different folks. I’ll stick to my game reserves.