Elephant Day

After the long and wondrous drive we finally arrived in the active volcano mountain area where the Elephant Reserve was located. The landscape was suddenly more forest and shrubs and a little cooler - not really cool you realise but very bearable by comparison with the lower flatlands by the sea. 

We turned into a large parking area to be almost immediately faced with a slow and gracefully swaying Sumatran elephant with a Howdah on its broad back walking nonchalantly across the road complete with a lady mahoot and one passenger. It was quite a breathtaking introduction to the place I can tell you.

We walked through the entrance with dear Laku making sure we all had the opportunity to visit ‘the happy room’ - I’m sure you can work that one out ! An official then gave us orders for the visit. These were rescued elephants from Sumatra here to be conserved and bred from and some eventually to be sent back to the wild. They are ‘very very friendly and will steal from you if they think you have anything interesting or edible’ he went on to say with a smile. Be prepared to be stroked, pushed, asked for treats with a curling trunk and to be sprayed with water if they felt like it !

No fence just you and me !

Elephant fruit salad !

I’m flippin starving, can’t you see ? The fences here are because they are so greedy they would chase you for the fruit ! 

WORLD OF COFFEE 14

My  restorative coconut drink and Balinese Coffee, thick and stronger than any I have tasted before.....Mmmmm

The first walk was simply to acclimatise us to the forest trail and to meet some of the inhabitants both man and beast. Then we watched some playing in the water pool, no chains, no ropes, no fences in essence no anything between us, they were as happy as Larry and I suspect would have been whether we were there or not ! They had all been rescued at some point and transported by heavy truck for 4 days to this rescue park started by an Australian chap called Mason. 

Next we went to the feeding area. You could just feed them cut bamboo, but for 50,000 rupiah £2 that is, one could buy a basket of fruit for them. I bought the fruit basket and as it was being chopped up for me, the girl handed me a papaya and said, ‘ here have a try it is very good !’ So I did, and juicy and sweet it was ! I made my way over to a couple of girl elephants and was immediately swamped by strong pushing trunks, desperate to get their mouths around the delectable stuff. The were very strong and insatiable, but they looked me straight in the eye and smiled, I am sure. These beasts were badly treated and some nearly died, yet now after a few short years these sensitive and highly intelligent animals saw me as a friend with grub, not the tiniest bit afraid and very greedy ! It was an really amazing experience, they were tame but unfettered and still free to go ( probably where the vittels were I imagine !) anywhere they wished. 

We were then taken to a rustic but beautiful restaurant for a buffet lunch. Often these excursion lunches are quite poor, but this was a magnificent Balinese banquet full of Chicken Satay, Bali Curries, scrumptious vegetables cooked with ginger and lemon grass, and all sorts of coconut dishes - I was in cuisine Heaven ! The only desserts were fresh melons, mangoes and papayas - I admit I tried something of everything and to hell with the carbs, but it was all in moderation, and such clean native food, I loved it. All served on banana leaves.

The highlight of the day was then to come. We queued to have our own ride on these gorgeous beasts and after a few minutes mine arrived. My mahoot was a very nice chap who told me he came with Niki who was 32 years old, from Sumatra, leaving his wife and children for most of the year. He was one of the rescue party and as such was given one elephant to look after for life, and Niki was his. He told me she had a husband Seewar, whom we saw on our travels, and a baby whom we also saw called Risky !!! This baby was born at the reserve as part of the breeding programme, and he doesn’t and won’t be trained to give rides and may eventually go back to Sumatra when he is old enough. 

It was such a surprise that he told me to put my feet on her back, she likes to feel the person up high, and to go with the movement as if I were trotting on a horse, but in slow motion. That is exactly what it felt like - and it was a hard wood Howdah, nothing fancy or touristy, and quite a painful slow bumping on the spine ! I was alone in my seat so had to hang on for dear life, especially when we got to a water hole and she wanted to go in, I thought I was going to be well and truly dunked - and I wouldn’t have cared at all ! The elephants only gave four rides each day, I was the fourth of Niki’s day and she clearly knew this, hence the water treatment, the mahoot said that when I disembarked she would be in the river and cooling down and having a great time. They were not exploited or overworked at all, in fact quite the reverse, and rightly so !

Not very flattering but taken by my mahoot.

The ride was a good half hour long so we chatted a lot, he asked where I was from and when I said the U.K. he kept repeating ‘Ah, UK very very good, very good, I like the U.K. ‘ of course he had never been, and on his $370 US dollars a month I am pretty sure he will never be able to go anywhere, let alone the U.K. It was exhilarating and almost a little spiritual to be on one’s own with such a majestic beast and the man who lives and breathes with it. They were very much at one, a touch of the bare foot or a scrape of an ear and Niki responded with a curled trunk around his leg or arm. They were in love ! The mahoot will go home for his every two year leave for one month in July and Niki will have his assistant to look after her, but she will pine for him until he comes back. Of course these elephants will never go back to the wild, but their offspring will hopefully build the stocks of the endangered Sumatran elephant population. 

There was, of course, a small shop and I tried to spend as much as I could, but it was tough. Beautiful stuff seemed so cheap, but I have only limited space in my cases, but I did want to contribute to the fund so came away with some souvenirs, none of which came close to the experience I had, but they served the purpose.

The drive home was just as lovely, all the same peaceful life happening undisturbed, as we zipped by in our bus. It was a small tour, so only about 20 people, but one I suspect most of us will remember for a long time. 

We said goodbye to Laku and Choc at the port and they bowed with thanks so gracefully, I hope we all tipped generously !!