ELEPHANT SANCTUARY- PRETORIA -SOUTH AFRICA- BUCKET LIST

Hello everyone

I want to share with you a fantastic experience my family and I enjoyed a few weeks ago. There is a sanctuary for orphaned elephants in the Hartebeespoort area just outside Pretoria, South Africa. If you are visiting South Africa it must go on your to do list. It is about a 45 minute drive from Johannesburg and the visit takes about two and a half hours.
The visit starts with the feeding of the elephants. You are given a bucket of bush food pellets and you hand feed them. Their trunks resemble huge vacuum cleaners as they suck and scoop the pellets out of your hand. They eat about 250 kg's a day (500 pounds).
You then go through to an area where you learn about the elephant such as they have 5 sets of teeth through their life span. That is why you have elephant graveyards. Elephants go to swampy areas where the food is softer when they are older and basically die from starvation. It makes sense but not nice knowing they die that way.
After that you walk with the elephants holding their trunks. For those that want to you can ride them as well. They are re homed into a reserve when they are old enough. A reserve where there are no predators as they wouldn't be used to that.
It is a fantastic experience and I highly recommend anyone visiting South Africa does.

Booking is advisable .