When we pulled up, the three elephants were munching on some trees. There was a mother, her daughter, and then another baby that she adopted. All of them were rescued from Kruger National Park. We were able to follow them around, and pet their sides & ears. I got some awesome pictures of all of us on my camera, but you can get the general idea of our experience below. Our guide told us that if we blow into the elephant's trunk, they will remember you for 8 years. I tried to do it with one of the babies, but the mother stuck her trunk right in my face so I was able to. It was an amazing experience, and I was very sad when the hour was over.
Our next stop was the Chameleon Village for some shopping! It was very interesting to get a chance to barter with the shop owners, but I don't need to do it again. Right when you walk in, all the shop owners try to pull you into their shops, ask you questions about yourself, and try to make you feel terrible when you pass them by. I'm a bit of a sucker, so it was very hard to walk by anyone. I ended up getting some very good prices in the end, and some awesome souvenirs!
After we were done shopping, we headed to Lesedi Cultural Village. We had a brief introduction, then we were taken on a tour of the five major cultures in South Africa. We had another refresher lesson on the Xhosa, which made our group really miss our project weeks. They had example villages of each culture, and they explained the basic practices. It was nice to learn about all of them, and really see how different they are from each other. When we were done with our tour, we sat down for a show of the cultures' songs & dances. It was a lot of fun to see everyone really get into it, and then we joined them at the end. They also served us a delicious dinner, with sample foods from each culture. I tried ostrich, which is like a very tough beef, and crocodile, which is chewy & fatty & disgusting.
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