Elephant Kisses - Meeting Tswale In South Africa

Stephen and I have met, and kissed, an elephant before in Bali. But meeting a smaller, Asian elephant without tusks at the zoo was a very different experience than meeting a male, African elephant with tusks who, while tame, is still very free range in charge of his own destiny.

It was exhilarating, fun, funny and special. If you’re heading to South Africa, particularly the Crocodile Gate / Marloth Park area of Kruger National Park, you should definitely stop in to meet Tswale. Here’s what to expect.

Kisses with Tswale. The one male in my life Stephen needs to watch out for that might steal his girl.

This is Tswale and his story as I know it. He’s an African elephant with a story of hardship, heartache and hope. Rescued from a cull pen (when there are too many animals they kill some to keep numbers manageable), through a series of events he and his sister ended up at a reserve near Sonell’s property (with their person – Amos).

Amos has been with Tswale for 14+ years and is a member of his family (elephants generally being social creatures with strong family groups) despite being a human. Another group of male elephants made it to where Tswale and his sister were living and attacked them. Tswale’s sister died from her injuries from that attack and Tswale ran away.

He ran to Sonell’s property – a huge farm. She welcomed Tswale and Amos with open arms, heart and home. Tswale’s current owner (not Sonell or Amos) is giving Sonell time to purchase Tswale from him before selling him for some kind of entertainment work, like the circus, to recoup his money from his investment in Tswale. If she’s successful, Tswale and Amos will have a home for life (which could be another 30 years or more for Tswale) and won’t have to do anything he doesn’t want to. You can meet and interact with Tswale, but it’s on his terms and the experience is enriching for the people that meet him and for Tswale’s tummy. You can donate to help Sonell purchase Tswale and care for him so he can live his best life here.

At the time of writing it costs 550 Rand (~$30) per person to see Tswale and this goes directly to his owner. However, Sonell is fundraising, selling amazing merchandise and accepting donations to make purchasing Tswale possible. The funds go directly into a lawyer’s account. You can also bring extra cash to spread love to Amos, who spends every moment with Tswale.

“Tswale is an elephant who sleeps in the bush,” you say? Yes, you are correct. Amos camps with Tswale out in the wilderness despite having a room on the farm. He brings his lunch with him and spends all his time with Tswale. When he was sick recently, this was a strain on all of them and as such they are hoping to introduce another dedicated person to round out Tswale’s family and provide needed down time for Amos and Sonell, while still providing the love and companionship that Tswale needs.

It’s an incredible experience to look Tswale in the eye with love.

Once you’ve arranged to meet Tswale you need to go shopping. An elephant eats A LOT, so anything you can bring to support his care as well as entice him to stay with you while you learn about him, his life and other elephant facts is much appreciated.

When we originally reached out the list was “any fruit except mangoes (turns out they make him hyper).” Our friends, Carrie and Jim, mentioned that they bring 70-80 oranges and that Tswale loves them. We couldn’t find any oranges (turns out it wasn’t the season for oranges but more on that later), so we bought apples. I also knew from our experience in Bali that watching an elephant crunch on a giant piece of fruit like coconut or watermelon is a sight to behold and a treat for the ears (ASMR anyone?), so we also bought a watermelon so my mom, who was also with us, could see and hear Tswale crunch down on it.

The day finally arrived and I confirmed with Sonell about coming and that we were bringing apples and watermelon. She immediately replied – “No watermelon!! Don’t even touch the watermelon before you come! He hates it and he won’t come near if he smells it on you!” Oh no!! Thankfully we had to go to the store anyway, so we grabbed some butternut squash and I happened to find one bag of oranges – score!

I asked Stephen to move the existing watermelon away from our apples immediately and we placed them in the trunk without any contamination. It turns out that indeed – Tswale doesn’t like watermelon and Sonell has had to take it from people’s cars and throw it into the bush before they arrive for their visit with Tswale. So, if you’re keeping track for your visit – no mangoes, watermelon, strawberries or blueberries (I’m not sure why – maybe they are too small or he doesn’t enjoy them but they are also on the list.)

This is the face of an elephant who doesn’t like watermelon.

So we arrive with apples, oranges and butternut squash in hand. Amos also has game pellets for Tswale to keep him engaged in the experience. Remember, Tswale isn’t in a zoo. He’s allowed to roam wherever he’d like on Sonell’s property and so when he decides he’d like to move on, he just goes. The snacks are to give you time to meet him and get close, but he’s in charge of the interactions with Amos’ supervision. You start by meeting him while he enjoys pellets and hearing Tswale’s story.

Getting to know you, getting to know all about you… (IYKYK)

Carrie and Tswale discussing which selfies to post on social media of their best angles. Side note – Tswale did not enjoy Carrie’s raincoat so that was ditched almost immediately after this picture.

This is also a great time for close ups of Tswale – feeling his skin, looking at his eyes, mouth and tusks as well as a chance to really experience elephant behaviors (and toes!). You have to be aware of him and especially his tusks, but overall he knows exactly where you are and won’t step on you.

We learned that a happy and relaxed elephant crosses their back legs!

Elephant toes – when are you ever going to get close enough to those safely!?

A happy Tswale in the rain, eating snacks with his family and new friends.

It was time to get out our own snacks. We grabbed the apples and oranges (knowing they’re a favorite) and started to hand them over. Carrie warned us that Tswale likes to act like he didn’t get one, so you’ll give him two at a time by hiding it in the crook of his trunk. He didn’t do that with us but would hold out his trunk, with one apple in, reaching for a second apple before putting it into his mouth.

That’s Tswale’s Amos in the background. Mom is feeding him an apple (Tswale – not Amos).

If you’re feeling brave you can give Tswale snacks directly into his mouth and maybe even feel his tongue!

Mom getting some pets in while we scramble to grab more apples for her.

Tswale – Second apple please? Mom – I don’t have any more right now buddy!

It was time for the oranges! Yes! His favorite. I so wish I had this on video. We hand Tswale an orange. He flips his trunk and drops it on the ground. We hand him another orange. Flip and drop. Third orange, repeat. We speculate why he’s not enjoying the oranges and decide that it must be because they’re too cold, so we drop them into the water like he did in the hope that they’ll warm up sufficiently for Tswale to enjoy them. We switched to butternut squash.

Discarded oranges. Like our hopes and dreams of him ever eating them.

Tswale is here for that butternut squash life and crunches down. He still tried to get two on his trunk at once but quickly abandoned that idea.

Later we found out that someone else brought oranges too and after some elephant whispering Sonell told us that it’s not orange season so Tswale, apparently, will not eat artificially or chemically ripened fruit! It has to be in season! Whoa. Mind blown.

Once our fruit had gone, Tswale started to get antsy so he was back to pellets while we moved forward with him. The weather, cool and rainy, plus a lunch of marula fruit which also makes him more hyper (like mangoes) already had him more active than usual at interactions, but we were grateful for any time he spent with us.

Loving gazes at our beautiful Tswale. Ignore the offensive oranges.

Mom in her happy place with the wildlife.

Part of his activity was digging into the dirt a bit and flinging dirt on himself.

Tswale was on the hunt for more marula fruit and so our time was coming to an end. We posed for final selfies with Tswale and gave him final (muddy) hugs.

Muddy from elephant hugs? No problem with that at all!

Mom, a little more tentative with her Tswale hugs.

Tswale and Amos began to head off into the distance. Tswale stopped nearby for some scratches on the tree and a bit of grass before leaving us in awe (and awww) of his presence.

Meeting Tswale, Amos and Sonell was a highlight of our trip to South Africa. Getting that close to a large animal but also experiencing nothing but love and peace in his presence is something you don’t soon forget. All three of them are imprinted on my heart and I hope that they raise the funds they need to give Tswale his best life. He deserves it. If you feel like donating, following on YouTube or just sharing Tswale’s story it would be much appreciated.

Finally, a thank you to Carrie for introducing us to Tswale and his family as well as taking photos that I am in. Her friendship is one I treasure.

Here’s a video of our experience with Tswale and a few bonus photos.