It is not often that I get the chance to sleep within the sounds of snoring elephant, but I did at the Knysna Elephant Park guest house, Elephant Lodge. I also had the chance to ride one of the elephants, all of whom have been rescued and now make up a tight knit herd. Knysna Elephant Park are one of the good guys of elephant back riding, with strong ethics and the welfare of their animals paramount.
When Harry met Carrie
Harry is the dominant bull of the herd and the largest at about 3 metres tall. I felt like a pimple on his back, my legs didn’t even reach the end of the blanket.
Harry is enormous, and I had my arms firmly clasped around my softly-spoken guide. Harry was born in 1989, but arrived at Knysna Elephant Park with Sally when he was 5 years old - still a real youngster. Harry is a gentle giant and shows tenderness towards the babies, which is apparantly unusual for a bull elephant.
Harry and I were going along nicely when he decided it was time for bed and started trotting across the field towards his bed chamber. The Knysna Elephant Park ele’s have very nice quarters, each with their own stable (somewhat larger than for a horse) filled with leafy branches to strip and a bed of hay and straw. When an elephant trots, especially one the size of Harry, you know about it and I felt rather wobbly and liable to fall off at any minute. 
Camp Jabulani left me feeling enriched in so many ways and I am now completely in love with elephants. Camp Jabulani is one of the good guys in elephant back riding - according to my safari tart friend Shaz, who did a magazine exposé on the elephant riding safari industry. And I became convinced of this on my own accord. Camp Jabulani is also one of the best safari lodges in Kruger National Park region, in terms of top accommodation, sublime food, décor elegance, sophistication, charming staff and the whole shebang.
Not only is she beautiful on the outside, but she’s soppy on the inside and loves animals to distraction. I empathized completely.