Garden Route Day 3

The Garden Route Day 3
The day started out to a visit to a Rastafarian township. It was by far one of the oddest places I have ever been to. They call their children Rasta kiddies and the majority of the people in the community have dreadlocks. We listened to what the beliefs of a Rastafarian are, at first the man who was telling us about the community told us they believed in everything the bible said, although they don’t worship the father son and the holy spirit, they worship the father, son and the mother. They also basically worship marijuana and believe that it brings peace and helps to fight poverty. I feel like the beliefs could vary from community to community but this was definitely an experience I will remember. We were taken into a shack so we could listen to one of the local bands, who all had dreadlocks and played many Bob Marley cover songs.

Afterwards we ate lunch and headed to the elephant sanctuary, which was one of my favorite parts of the trip. We were shown where the indoor area was where the elephants sleep at night so poachers can’t get in. We were driven to this open field with rolling hills and elephants big and small wandering all around. I bought food to feed some of the elephants, and it came in a big plastic bowl with large amounts of vegetables. For the babies, we had to toss the food at their feet, but for the bigger elephants we stuck out our hand s and waited for their powerful trunks to find their way to the fresh fruits and veggies in our palms. After we fed them we got to walk with the elephants, petting their sandpapery skin and marveling in their big and wonderous beauty. It was a fantastic experience to see the elephants up close and I have decided for me…that elephants are the dolphins of the land, judging on how much I love them.

After the elephants, we went to a place called Monkey World! The name alone makes me feel like it would be a very touristy place, although when I arrived there weren’t many people, just a gated forest and wild monkeys running everywhere. There were baboons sitting by the outdoor café, howler monkeys screeching up a storm, little baby lemurs making their way to the feeding areas. At first it was a bit frightening to walk into this forest because monkeys would jump on branches right above us, some would come very close to us, and the funniest part of the whole experience was the suspension bridge. We had to hike across a very long suspension bridge to get to the other side of the forest. Many, including me were a bit shocked to see a howler sitting in the middle of the bridge, growling at us, baring it’s teeth, and swinging from the metal lines that were holding up the narrow suspension bridge. After just quietly scampering as fast as I could past the monkey, I sighed with a sense of relief and was very entertained watching others scream, panic, and sprint their ways past one monkey, enjoying his time on the bridge. It was quite the experience to say the least.
That evening we had a braii at the hostel and it was such a great night on the trip, cooking food, laughing and having a great time, although in the back of everyone’s minds was the upcoming bungy jump for the next day.