elephant trainer + elephant

!elephant trainer×!elephant×

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elephant trainer + elephant
Look how long and pretty and freckley (!!!) her trunk is!
elephant trainer + elephant
FRONDS!
elephant trainer + elephant
I didn't have any more bananas, but she was a good sport about it and even let me shake her trunk! (But that was probably only because her trainer held his stick up in the air and she knew she'd get a gentle whack in the head if she tried to get rough and sniffy with me.)
elephant trainer + elephant
I CAN HAS MORE?
elephant trainer + elephant
NOM*NOM*NOM.
elephant trainer + elephant
So nice.
elephant trainer + elephant
Hahaha.
elephant trainer + elephant
I think this one is my fave because it looks like she's smiling.
elephant trainer + elephant
Then it was my turn! Meredith took my cam and did an awesome job capturing the following action sequence!
elephant trainer + elephant
I totally broke my bunch of bananas in two because I wanted to experience the weirdness of feeling her sniff around my hand and then grab the bananas twice!
elephant trainer + elephant
And repeat! (Look how happy she is here!)
elephant trainer + elephant
Swallow. (I like how Meredith's gently petting the end of her nose here.)
elephant trainer + elephant
...then you chew then entire bunch at the same time...
elephant trainer + elephant
...then you use your trunk to place the entire bunch of bananas in your mouth...
elephant trainer + elephant
After we got back to the camp, our trainer asked us if we wanted to feed our elephant and thank her for the ride! When we said yes, he walker her around a little fence thingy - so that she would get over excited about the food and accidentally trample us to death..

Here's a quick guide to elephant eating: First you reach out and grab the bananas...
elephant trainer + elephant
Then, we mounted back up and it was time to head back to the camp.
elephant trainer + elephant
When you ride an elephant, you sort of sit on a bench-seat that's tied around the animal's back - but the driver, the driver sits right up on the head! It's totally shocking! It was really neat to watch the trainer get up there - he'd make a clicking sound while standing on the ground and the elephant would bend her knee and fashion a "step" so that the guy was able to climb on up!