Recently in Jaipur, I met an elephant.

Rani ( queen) is her name.

She lives at an elephant sanctuary, where she is treated like a Queen.

She is gentle, she is happy for you to pat her, for you to cuddle up to her she likes to eat [ for about 18 hours a day!] She needs to walk about 8 km a day to digest all that food.

She loves a bath, but that can only happen in the hot months because elephants catch a chill easily. This doesn’t worry her because she is as happy throwing dust over her back as she is throwing water.

She belongs to a family who has looked after elephants for many generations. These elephants are domesticated creatures, like your cat, but you would not like her sitting on your lap!! She depends on her human family for love and attention, she is really affectionate, and housing and food.

Rani, being quite a queen, loves to wear makeup and be pampered.

Our Travel Sketching-Jaipur group will be visiting her, to sketch her portrait, to help paint her make-up and mostly importantly to help feed her during our visit. @leonienorton_travelsketching won’t this be a fun afternoon? Join us in February 2024