Sunday, July 25th

11:55am (SA)
          Brendan's family is so adorable!  Billie really took to Kim and she helped him make a pretty arrangements out of some nearby grass/weeds with his empty juice box.  Whenever he pulled something that he didn't particularly like or didn't want to use, he'd throw it towards the pond with all his might while yelling, "rubbish"!!!  So cute!
          This morning we got to do the elephant back safaris!  We each got to ride the elephants for about 20-30 minutes (shorter than normal since we had such a big group).  Vicki and I rode behind Corbin on Mokwa.  He is a 21 year old bull elephant who loves to cause trouble!  He is super stubborn and is constantly challenging the handler's authority!  He was named after a type of hardwood tree here in South Africa.  There are 2 other elephants here as well.  Taba means "happy" and he definitely lives up to his name!  Duma means "rumbling thunder" and he is the peacekeeper in the group.
          After our rides we took a walk with the elephants down to the feeding area/watering hole.  We stopped a few times to let the elephants munch on some sweet thorn and so we could take lots of pictures!  Feeding the elephants got quite messy!  There are 2 ways to give them their feed.  You can either drop a handful of pellets down their trunk (and they will get it to their mouths) or you can give them the "trunk up" command and they will happily lift their trunks and open their mouths wide so that you can actually place the food right onto their tongues!!!  It was quite a sight looking between two large tusks into a giant elephant mouth!
          We also visited the AEBS gift shop while we were waiting for the rest of our group to finish their rides.  I purchase a lot of beautiful things for entertaining at home in the future.  I can't wait to use them!

10:42pm (SA)
          After a very late breakfast, we had 2 lectures given by Brenden, followed by lunch.  His entire family is here and his mom made a wonderful chicken soup which we ate outside in the sunshine!  We had another lecture after lunch about bomas (corrals) and then headed out for a game drive.  We saw giraffe, wildebeast, blesbok, and antelope.  The drive ended at a beautiful lookout spot with drinks and fun conversation.  Andre pointed out some constellations and then we went to dinner where Brenden's mom prepared traditional boboti which was like a kudu mince meat pie.  It was pretty good, but dessert was even better!  A scoop of homemade ice cream surrounded by passion fruit yogurt!  Yum!
          We're leaving early tomorrow for another reserve so I'd better get to sleep!