Day 140 - 10th November
Arriving at the bus station just before seven forty five saw us searching in vain for our tour guide to the Elephant Sanctuary. After a wander around the station, I found Bow and Winnie, two women from Tunbridge Wells who would be joining us. There was also another couple from Warwickshire so it was looking like an all English affair.
Eventually, we met Kun, our 22 year old guide who was accompanying us on the hour journey to the sanctuary. The truck that took us there bounced down the road with us all sharing our travelling stories. When we rolled into the sanctuary, the excitement began building.
The safety instructions were given and we made rice and banana balls as a treat fr the elephants. Then they gave us knives. It was looking to be a fight to the death until we were told we needed to cut up the fruit (pumpkin and watermelon) we'd washed earlier.
Then it all began. We met up with our six elephants and their mahouts before we fed them. The strength of those girls' trunks were incredible, as was the speed in which they devoured the food.
We walked them into the forest and watched them bathe and eat the vegetation for an hour or so. They are fascinating animals, with little quirks. I felt like I was looking after a child or elderly person. Their skin was very rough which I had envisaged and they walked silently around so that a few times i was surprised by them.
The guide ensured to us they were all rescued and were never ridden which was pleasing to hear but I still felt that they were contained in their 35 acre surroundings, however much the guide insisted they were happy.
The lunch was pretty tasty and we then went out for the afternoon to watch them bathing in the mud bath. They seemed happy to just be throwing mud around at each other. The best part is when we washed them off in the water with buckets. They rolled over in the water and splashed around as we did so and it was definitely the highlight of the day for me.
By the evening, we went to a fancy resort and stayed in a nice cabin. We checked out the pool area and had dinner with Kun, Winnie and Bow. After Kun left, our conversations extended to travelling and ghost stories. Safe to say, we were all a little uneasy walking back in the dark. I took the opportunity to run out of the dark at everyone which went down exactly how I planned.
What a fantastic day and everyone had fun without riding elephants!
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