Elephant walk

This item appears on page 37 of the December 2009 issue.
Maurice Black leading a young elephant at The Crags.

On a trip to South Africa with Africa 2000 (www.africa 2000tours.co.za), my husband, Maurice, and I visited The Crags Elephant Sanctuary (Plettenberg Bay; phone +27 44 534 8145, www.elephantsanctuary.co.za).

I had the opportunity to interact with the pachyderms, petting them, checking their teeth and even leading them. What a sense of power to have this huge animal lumber behind you, its trunk encasing two of your fingers!

JACKIE BLACK

Thunder Bay, ON, Canada

The Crags is open daily 8 a.m. to sunset. Activities are priced from ZAR295 [$38] for a one-hour intro to the elephants to ZAR820 [$104] for a day-long program.