Still on Safari

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Our sixth day we skipped the early morning drive for an opportunity to interact with the elephants!  A 20 minute drive from Karula is a small area where some elephants live.  They were born in the wild but were raised in captivity so they obey and follow certain commands.  We had the chance to mingle with Jabulani (which means happiness) an 18-year-old elephant.  When he was three months old he got stuck in a mud pit.  The other adult elephants in his herd tried for some time to save him but couldn’t get him out of the mud and eventually abandoned him.  Some rangers found him soon after and got him out of the mud using wenches.  Since he had been abandoned by his herd, the rangers watched him day and night for weeks.  They fed him and took care of him until he was healthy.  When they tried to introduce him back into a herd, none of the other elephants would accept him.  So the reserved took Jabulani on as a special project.  He has since been accepted by a female and able to mate and have a baby.  The guides claim he still prefers humans over other elephants, however.  When we first arrived we learned a lot of about the elephant.  How they eat, breath, and about the different and unique parts of their bodies.

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We got to touch his feet, his ears, and his trunk.  Touching his skin felt a lot like rubbing your hands on asphalt.  Their skin is extremely rough and their little black hairs are really thick and prickly.  We also got to feed him pellets and watch him do his tricks.  We sat with him and he even let us all hug him.  He loves humans because the guides say he believes he IS a human.

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Then we got to meet the baby, Mambo.  He is only three years old, but already taller than all of us.  His ears felt like soft leather and he already had developed tiny tusks.

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Since Mambo is so young, he didn’t know any commands.  In fact, he bolted after some warthogs at one point and almost escaped.  We didn’t realize it until all the guides started running after him yelling him to TURN LEFT!

This experience was one of my favorites because of the time we got to spend one on one with the elephants, just the four of us.  After it was over we decided to take a drive in the rental car to see if we could find any other animals and to stop by the spa at the River Lodge.  The spa was incredible, like something out of a magazine.  Right on the banks of the river.

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We toured the facility and made our way back to Karula.  We saw several animals, but our favorite were all the water buffalo bathing in the watering hole.

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We made it back in time for lunch and then our afternoon game drive.  This drive was by far my favorite.

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First we found the lionesses, but had discovered they had killed a water buck and were feasting.  It was terrifying and intriguing all at the same time to see them all resting, blood covering their mouths.  They were all extremely full, only getting up to chase away the vultures off the carcass of the water buck.  Turns out they had a Thanksgiving feast of their own the night previously.

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We still hadn’t seen the male lion.  Since the lions sleep so much, it is hard to find the male in the daylight.  Out of nowhere we were driving up a path and there he was, the male lion.  Resting on the side of the road.

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His “favorite female” beside him, nearly as big as he was.  Julius estimated he was at least 150 kilos.  His paws were gigantic.  He didn’t even flinch when we drive right up beside him, maybe 10 feet away.  As we left the male lion alone to sleep we came across a tiny baby giraffe.  In the middle of the road.  He looked lost, but wasn’t moving out of our way.  Just sitting there, staring at us.  Julius noticed his mom was lying down in the trees behind him and drove over to her off the path and through the brush.  We all thought she was resting and quickly realized she was dead, Julius had guessed for at least two days.  No wonder the sweet baby giraffe had nowhere to go.  He didn’t want to leave his mother.  Julius had also guessed that he hadn’t left her because he was hungry and was still attempting to drink her milk.  The baby giraffe finally made his way off the side of the road and into the trees.  It was heartbreaking.  We ended the night by finding ourselves surrounded by an elephant herd again, this time accompanied by a giant bull elephant.

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He was HUGE.  Bigger than any of the others by several feet.  He walked right across our path, but Julius made it clear we were staying a distance away.

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Out of nowhere a female elephant approached our truck.  She came so close going so fast that Engrid started to squeal.  Julius told us to be very quiet and he took off before the female snatched one of us out of the truck.  He said of any animal, the elephant is most likely to approach and attack the automobile.

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He told us this AFTER the giant elephant chased us away!  We had our last snack break in Karula, and Excellent really out did himself.  He decorated our table with little leaves from a plant nearby.  Such a sweetheart.

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We tried to spot some leopards from Excellent’s scouting seat…but to no avail.  We made our way back to the lodge and had our last dinner in Kapama.

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