Elephants!

Today we visited the Elephant Sanctuay in Hartbeetsport When we arrived they were being fed breakfast. They have 5 elephants - 3 bulls and 2 cows. They only have 50 hectares, they said one adult requires 1,000 hectares for feeding.

We got time to pet one of the elephants and learn about all their features....

We even got a look inside the mouth to see the molars. They are so well behaved.

Then we went to feed their latest addition. It was amazing to see his trunk at work.

It was a great experience...

South African Derby

Today we went to Turffontein Racecourse located in Johannesburg to see the South African Derby. It was a beautiful day for horse racing. We parked in the infield of one of the four tracks they have.

We arrived for the 3rd race and placed our first bet for the 4th race. Steph picked "Control Freak" to show and I picked "High Five" to win. I placed the bets and we went to watch the race. Control Freak came in third and we were very excited (see Steph's pic below). Then we learned after the fact that they do not take show bets (only win and place) so I was a bit annoyed that the teller did not say anything to me when I initially placed the bets.

We went to tour the rest of the track and grounds. It was very nice and you could see in its time it must have been a premier place to be for racing. Below is a view of the paddock area.

Here is a shot of the SA Derby it was time to go place our bets! One of our picks was the #2 horse, Pomodoro! From the screen you can see that they run clockwise.

Here is the final 50 meters of the race and Pomodoro was neck and neck with Royal Bencher.

I was happy to see that Pomodoro was in a dead heat with Royal Bencher. Then there was a objection made by Royal Bencher that Pomodoro had bumped him. The objection was overruled and we had a winner!!!

Before we went to collect we took a look at the paddock up close. It is always great to see the horses up close.

We got a nice chuckle from the sign.

With the payout! A whopping 50 Rand, YOOHOO!

It looked like a storm was coming so we decided to leave with our winnings. It was a great day to be at the races.

Hike at Faerie Glen

 So today we hiked the Faerie Glen Nature Reserve... it was a great day for a hike. We hope you enjoy the pictures!

We visited a Cheetah Sanctuary

The Center was established in 1971, previously known as the De Wildt Cheetah Centre it has recently been changed to The Ann van Dyk Cheetah Centre as a tribute to the woman who devoted her life to the survival of the cheetah species. Her story is great! What started out as a small farm has not turned into a vast land to breed cheetahs and african wild dogs. Below are pictures we took during our tour of the farm. Cute....

Cheetah, was looking at us because we also were carrying the food.

 The wild dogs were very intersting, they made a high pitch cackle as we approached. Itis their rally call we were told. They were excited because it was feeding time. It was amazing to see how fast they ate. The have to do so because in the wild they feed off of leftovers and thus get as much as they can before others come.

Here Steph is infront of the Honey Badgers Den! A highlight of the tour!

Below is an albino Honey Badger, they are very rare but do exist!

 Before our tour of the farm we got some one on one time with an ambasador cheetah! That was an awesome experience.