We had some young friends visit over Easter and unfortunately the weather was not great but it was a great excuse to visit the Knysna Elephant Park. I had not been since I moved to Knysna but I had been before when on holiday (why is it you never visit the attractions on your doorstep). The kids (& most the adults) loved feeding them by hand and getting the opportunity to touch these magnificent creatures. Due to the high number of visitors it is a bit of a production line experience and it can be crowded at peak times but all in all voted a positive experience by our visitors.
Get to touch these lovely creatures
The Park advertises all the elephants here are rescued from elsewhere in South Africa. They are kept in open fields during the day, fed and petted by tourists, at night they are put in a huge shed. There was a lot of controversy last year regarding alleged abuse of animals several years ago while training them for riding. The park is now in new ownership although they do still offer rides.
I did think carefully about supporting a place that allegedly abused the Elephants and I came to the following conclusions. I don’t agree with training the animals for riding and would not support that part of the park. Am I been a hypocrite for still visiting the park? Well I do believe that they are trying to do a good thing there and they have changed the people and organisations involved. If the park is not supported and is closed down what happens to the animals that are there? It is a grey situation but ultimately we live in a world with many shades of grey and we can all only make our own decisions.
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