Knysna Elephant Park/The Garden of Eden

      Knysna Elephant Park was absolutely incredible! Like with the ostriches it was too muddy to ride them, but we got to go around the park and see and feed some elephants. Elephant skin is probably one of the strangest textures I have ever felt: wrinkly, leathery, and their hair was like a boar-bristle hairbrush! The elephants we were allowed to interact with were all female or babies and were all fairly gentle and friendly. 

     I found the way they ate to be absolutely fascinating and they way they used their trunks was so amazing--I could have watched them for hours! The species we saw was an African elephant because the elephants at the park were all rescue projects. The indigenous elephant species to Knysna forest is different from the African elephant because it has much longer legs and smaller ears because it lives in a forest habitat. Unfortunately, like many other animals, it has essentially been hunted to extinction. It is estimated that only one elephant from the original forest-roaming herd is still in existence. I can't imagine how frightening it would be to stumble upon it whilst on a hike!

As you can see, nothing is allowed except picnics, hiking and couples.

      After the elephant park we went to the Garden of Eden. While it was not the real biblical deal, it was stunning. The ground was covered with millions of different fern, fungus, and brush species and the tree canopy covered the sky, only allowing little shafts of light speckled with dust to enter. There was a beautiful board-walk with several different loops, so you didn't  There were lots of massive spider webs, and their creators--waiting to pounce! We saw some vervet monkeys swinging above us, and luckily no snakes! There are some creeper snakes that live in the forest that drop from trees onto their prey--like green mambas--and I was afeared of an ambush. However, there were none and the walk was magical!