Elephants, Monkeys, and Birds

Our next stop was the Elephant Sanctuary.

We could see elephants out in the fields.

We were momentarily distracted by these adorable meercats that came up out of their burrow and started wrestling with each other. We all wanted to take them home. They were way cute.

After a brief presentation about the elephants, we all got a chance to walk hand in trunk with an elephant. This, for me, was the coolest! Elephants have two little "fingers" on the tip of their trunk and this sweet thing actually held my hand. It was amazing. I think that out of all the animals we saw on this trip, the elephants grabbed my heart the most. They were so beautiful.

Once you were finished with your walk, you had a little "elephant love" on your hand, but that was okay.

Dad, me, Mom, Dave, Joyce, Abby, Kendra, and Karin

Me and Mom (How cool is this?)

Joyce and Dad checking out an ear

After we got up close and personal with the elephants, we got to feed them. They are very smart and would find the food no matter where you were. Those trunks can reach a LONG way!
Finally, it was time to ride. Whee!!! As you can see, I'm not letting go to wave. It was very high and a pretty bumpy ride, but what fun.

Joyce, me, and Dave with our guides.

Grandma on an elephant!

Grandpa on an elephant! Getting up and down was pretty scary. We had to hold onto the guide for dear life and they had to hold on the the elephant's ears.

After the Elephant Sanctuary, it was off to Monkeyland and Birdland. There were monkeys everywhere. There was no way to get a picture to show that because they all move so FAST!

This guy was king of the forest.

This is a ring-tailed lemur that really blended into his surroundings.

Karin's looking a little worried here. These were tiny little Vervet monkeys and they were not at all afraid of us. (It was raining, so we put on our lovely rain ponchos. We were thankful to have them. It got pretty wet.)

Kendra and Abby get up close. Right after this, one of the Vervet monkeys jumped right into Abbys lap. We were all so shocked and it happened so fast that nobody got a picture. Darn!

In Birdland, there were all kinds of birds. It was dark and raining pretty hard by this time, so the pictures are not great.

Animals of all kinds LOVE Dave. These two would not leave him alone.

So, all in all, it was a fantastic, exhausting day. We all fell into bed that night.