Elephants
Yesterday I had an incredible experience at the Elephant Sanctuary. It is located about 2 hours outside KL. Most tourists go on a bus tour that lasts only two hours at the sanctuary. Daryl and were there from 9am to 6pm.
I got into contact with Razli, a man who had volunteered at the sanctuary for 19 years. He helps out with entglish translation, wildlife rescue operations and promotions of the sanctuary.
Wildlife rescue is very dangerous and one man was killed a few years ago by a charging bull elep[hant. When patches of jungle become too small for elephant herds to sustain themselves, they raid neighbouring plantations. The wildlife team is called in to capture, transport and relocate the herd to one of Malaysia's national parks.
Razli has bought land 30 minutes outside KL to open an Elephant Park. The a portion of the proceeds with go to help the sanctuary and elephant rescue. During Chinese New Year the sanctuary was getting 2000+ visitors a day, which the basic facilities at the sanctuary could not keep up with. The Elephant Park will engage the public with elephant conservation in a state-of-the-art multi-million dollar facility.
Razli picked us up early in the morning and drove us in his own car the sanctuary. He's a talker and we got to get know him well. He's an ex-army jungle commando who used to do tracking in the jungle to hunt down communist terrorists (in the 70s and 80s), drug smugglers and poachers. Although he's retired he still volunteers to help hunt down poachers on occasion.
Two retired British couples joined us at the sanctuary for our private tour. We spent the morning having one-on-one time with the baby elephants. They were so cute! It was great fun to give them back rubs (babies like to rub against their mothers for comfort) and get sloppy kisses from their trunks. One elephant was called "Ms. Tigerproof" because she had survived a tiger attack and lost her tail.
After lunch the tourist circus started. Busloads of people arrived for the main activities at the sanctuary. The first activity was elephant feeding. We fed them bananas, papaya and watermelon. Then everyone had a very short elephant ride. To many people the elephant rides may seem cruel but they help elephants get accustomed to human interaction. These elephants do not have hope for proper rehabilitation back into the wild. Some of them are working elephants used to help capture wild elephants.
The last activity was a swim in the river. Daryl and I got on the back of one of the big elephants. There is no saddle or basket and I hung on tight. The elephant walked to a deep portion of the river and submerged into the water. We tumbled down with a big splash into the warm river waters. We then swam over to wear the baby elephants were playing and gave them a good scrubbing.
After all the tourists left we got a chance to prepare milk for a very sick baby elephant. The elephant was found by the side of the road hardly moving. He can not stand up and lies on his side all day. The milk was made with bread, rice, baby formula, glucose and brown sugar. We filled up a bottle and had fed the poor little
Afterwards we went to visit a few other elephants. I was the person who was handmixing the baby elephant milk and my arm was still covered in milk/brown sugar. One cheeky elephant grabbed my arm by her trunk and pulled my hand into her mouth! She licked off all traces of the milk. At first I was quite alarmed and thought she was going to eat me. I couldn't believe how strong her trunk was.
On the way home from the sanctuary Razli took us to a "secret garden" and we stopped for some Indian food. Razli invited Daryl and I to visit the site of his elephant park today. We are going to call him this afternoon and if he is free he will pick us up. He told us the land is untouched jungle and filled with friendly monkeys.
Oh and this is the link for Razli's jungle survival school website.
http://www.jungleschool.com.my/survival.html
I really want to return and try this out. It is a hardcore four day program and would be a true test of mental and physical strength. Daryl doesn't want to do it but if you are interested let me know!
This evening we have an overnight flight to Australia...
I got into contact with Razli, a man who had volunteered at the sanctuary for 19 years. He helps out with entglish translation, wildlife rescue operations and promotions of the sanctuary.
Wildlife rescue is very dangerous and one man was killed a few years ago by a charging bull elep[hant. When patches of jungle become too small for elephant herds to sustain themselves, they raid neighbouring plantations. The wildlife team is called in to capture, transport and relocate the herd to one of Malaysia's national parks.
Razli has bought land 30 minutes outside KL to open an Elephant Park. The a portion of the proceeds with go to help the sanctuary and elephant rescue. During Chinese New Year the sanctuary was getting 2000+ visitors a day, which the basic facilities at the sanctuary could not keep up with. The Elephant Park will engage the public with elephant conservation in a state-of-the-art multi-million dollar facility.
Razli picked us up early in the morning and drove us in his own car the sanctuary. He's a talker and we got to get know him well. He's an ex-army jungle commando who used to do tracking in the jungle to hunt down communist terrorists (in the 70s and 80s), drug smugglers and poachers. Although he's retired he still volunteers to help hunt down poachers on occasion.
Two retired British couples joined us at the sanctuary for our private tour. We spent the morning having one-on-one time with the baby elephants. They were so cute! It was great fun to give them back rubs (babies like to rub against their mothers for comfort) and get sloppy kisses from their trunks. One elephant was called "Ms. Tigerproof" because she had survived a tiger attack and lost her tail.
After lunch the tourist circus started. Busloads of people arrived for the main activities at the sanctuary. The first activity was elephant feeding. We fed them bananas, papaya and watermelon. Then everyone had a very short elephant ride. To many people the elephant rides may seem cruel but they help elephants get accustomed to human interaction. These elephants do not have hope for proper rehabilitation back into the wild. Some of them are working elephants used to help capture wild elephants.
The last activity was a swim in the river. Daryl and I got on the back of one of the big elephants. There is no saddle or basket and I hung on tight. The elephant walked to a deep portion of the river and submerged into the water. We tumbled down with a big splash into the warm river waters. We then swam over to wear the baby elephants were playing and gave them a good scrubbing.
After all the tourists left we got a chance to prepare milk for a very sick baby elephant. The elephant was found by the side of the road hardly moving. He can not stand up and lies on his side all day. The milk was made with bread, rice, baby formula, glucose and brown sugar. We filled up a bottle and had fed the poor little
Afterwards we went to visit a few other elephants. I was the person who was handmixing the baby elephant milk and my arm was still covered in milk/brown sugar. One cheeky elephant grabbed my arm by her trunk and pulled my hand into her mouth! She licked off all traces of the milk. At first I was quite alarmed and thought she was going to eat me. I couldn't believe how strong her trunk was.
On the way home from the sanctuary Razli took us to a "secret garden" and we stopped for some Indian food. Razli invited Daryl and I to visit the site of his elephant park today. We are going to call him this afternoon and if he is free he will pick us up. He told us the land is untouched jungle and filled with friendly monkeys.
Oh and this is the link for Razli's jungle survival school website.
http://www.jungleschool.com.my/survival.html
I really want to return and try this out. It is a hardcore four day program and would be a true test of mental and physical strength. Daryl doesn't want to do it but if you are interested let me know!
This evening we have an overnight flight to Australia...