Travel

Bayete Zulu Elephant Connection Experience: Elephants Up Close in South Africa

As promised in my honeymoon post, I’ll be talking all about the details of a once in a lifetime experience that my husband and I were blessed enough to have shared—Bayete Zulu’s Elephant Connection.

About Bayete Zulu Lodges

At Bayete Zulu Private, you’ll find luxury lodges that accommodate a total of 8 guests. So if you want something secluded, this may just be it. They offer guided game drives on the Manyoni Private Game Reserve.

Since we wanted to do our game drive at Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park we didn’t consider staying at Bayete Zulu Private. However, the lodge we did stay at helped us secure our Elephant Connection reservation.

Driving to Elephant Connection

Majority of the drive from our lodge to Elephant Connection was pretty decent, however the final 8.7km stretch on District Road P450 wasn’t very fun. We had a compact SUV and it didn’t provide all that much comfort. The dirt road was incredibly bumpy with several sudden dips. The rain from the night before also meant we couldn’t really tell how deep some of the holes were. Needless to say we took it slow and thankfully the rangers had waited for everyone to arrive before starting.

First Impressions of Rambo and Rachel

Immediately upon entering you’ll see Rambo and Rachel (sibling African elephants) waiting behind a far too tiny looking fence. It’s mind-blowing—one of those moments that feels dreamlike before it feels real. Once your mind accepts that there are two adult African elephants standing just metres away—with barely any barrier between you—you’ll finally find a seat.

The ranger will start by introducing you to Rambo and Rachel. He’ll tell you how it is that they ended up in Manyoni Private Game Reserve, what their average routines are, what their lives have been like (they’re both rescues) and some interesting facts about African elephants. He’ll then give you a breakdown on what your interactions with each of them will look like.

Meeting The Elephants

You’ll start by meeting Rambo, he’s the friendlier of the pair. The first thing you do is place pellets onto his trunk for him to eat. Then you’ll feel the smoothness of his tusks, rocklike texture of his trunk and soft leatheriness of the skin behind his ears and between his front legs. But the most memorable moment will be feeling his slippery, slimy, sluggish, ginormous tongue as you place pellets into his mouth. Should you try to avoid this part—like my husband did—the ranger will personally ensure your entire arm from elbow to finger tips has been firmly pressed against that huge tongue. Lastly, you’ll get some pictures with Rambo before moving on to meeting Rachel.

With Rachel you won’t interact all that much aside from filling her trunk with pellets by the handfuls. You can also snap a few pictures with her, but once your bowl of pellets is empty you best move on. Rachel isn’t all that patient and is really only there for the snacks—I feel you girl.

Once everyone has had their interaction the rangers will bring a couple of 20 litre water buckets out for you to witness just how quickly Rambo can drink—it’s hella fast to say the least—and that’s it. You can hang around and take some more pictures but once Rambo and Rachel have decided they’re done they move on to their usual day of roaming around the reserve.

Is the Bayete Zulu Elephant Connection Experience Worth It?

Without a doubt! For someone who’s always had a deep love and respect for these massive creatures this experience was entirely worth the cost and the drive. Being able to stand so close to animals that powerful felt both exhilarating and humbling, and it’s something I know we’ll be talking about for years to come.