What a wonderful experience it was to be "up close" with the elephants during our Living with Elephants experience in Botswana.  We met three orphaned elephants, who were adopted by a zoologist and his wife.  We not only learned about them, but also were able to touch their trunks and tusks, and examine their feet. We then dined with them in the bush, each species enjoying its own food. At the end of the experience, each particpant was kissed by one of the elephants. Guided by the zoologist the elephant's trunk was  placed at the nape of my neck and I felt the warm, slobbery, and ticklish kisses...an elephant 'thank you"