ELEPHANT SAFARI PARK, BALI

We were able to get close and personal with the Elephants in a beautiful tropical setting.  We hand fed them, touched them, rode on their backs, went swimming in the lake and learned about the elephants ancestry and diversity! 

 Enjoy the pictures, we had such a great time taking!

We were celebrities for the day!  

Bellow are pictures of the wall at the Elephant Safari Park, full of so many familiar faces!

" Julia Roberts "

" Steve Irwin "

" Jessica Biel & So Many More! "

Welcome to Bali's Famous Elephant Safari Park

How did we get so lucky? Today was another bucket list day, as we rode elephants through Bali's forest! This was an incredibly humbling experience as a local Balian picked us up on elephant back, taking us through the luscious green forest and elephant watering hole. It took us a few minutes, once on elephant back, to grasp the reality of what we were doing. YES, we were riding elephants through Bali! Life has had such wonderful and unexpected surprises for us … we are really checking off that bucket list!

The Elephant Safari Park itself was gorgeous, so full of life! The beautiful coy fish, the beautiful trees and most importantly the beautiful elephants! These creatures are incredibly smart, playful and loving. We were able to interact with our newest friends, the elephants, before and after our elephant trekking journey began. These adorable new friends of ours ate from our hands (palm leaves), played with us (put a flower reef on top of our heads), and hugged us with their trunks (as you may have noticed in the pictures above)! My favorite part about my interaction with the elephants was that when I kissed their trunks, they smiled for the camera! 

The most exciting part, of course, was riding the elephants together. A Balian picked us up, strapped us into our seats and began our exciting adventure. Our elephant driver, Ngakan, rode on top of the elephants head while Anthony and I rode on the elephant's back. As we commenced our journey Ngakan told us the history of the Elephant Safari Park, while pointing out the different Balian plants we saw during our time in the forest. As we rode through the forest I was surprised to feel a piece of home here in Bali, there were TONS of coconut trees. We loved seeing the coconut trees, a little reminder of our tropical paradise back at home. Along our journey we saw banana trees, cocoa (chocolate) trees, and coffee trees. YES, coffee trees! I was wondering why the Balian coffee tasted like heaven each morning. Well there was my answer, it was a local plant. This coffee is no ordinary coffee, it is sweet … it doesn't even need sugar or milk! Having my coffee black was delicious, and I was tempted to steal a coffee tree! I swear, I'm not that much of a coffee addict!

As our journey riding through the forest came to an end we went with our elephant through the water. YES, we were submerged in water on elephant back. This was an exciting and unforgettable moment, as our elephant blew water out of his trunk beautifully! And when I say our elephant blew water our of his trunk, it was A LOT of water! Enjoy the pictures of this posted above!

After the elephant ride we made our way to the shop (before lunch and the show), where we of course had to purchase another memory to add to our collection. We bought a gorgeous Balian pillow case, adding to our collection from around the world.

Lunch was simply delicious and the elephant show was great! The elephants played basketball and soccer, painted with a paintbrush and stood on only two legs.

To end an amazing experience, we were shocked to find the pictures of MANY familiar faces hung on the parks walls. Julia Roberts, Steve Irwin, Jessica Biel, David Beckam, Tony Blair, etc … ridden elephants in this very park! I guess you can say we were celebrities here in Bali for the day!

To Our Bucket List,

Nicole & Anthony