i first heard of the elephant sactuary in kuala gandah, pahang from my tv journalist fren, syura, more than a year ago. i've always been craving for something different to fill in my weekend than the usual movies-sushi-shopping, so after listening to her glowing testimony of the place, i was keen to give the elephants a visit; only time and the absence of like-minded companions prevented me from doing so much earlier. at first, of all the people, odeng was the only one interested to go.
that was until last saturday.
when i announced my intention to go bathe elephants to my family, i was subjected to endless ridicule and became the butt of jokes at home - they laughed at me. my brother retorted:
"nak mandikan gajah?? tu gajah kecik kat rumah tu (pointing to Roni, my 3++ year-old very lazy and water-resistant tabby)
dah 3 tahun tak mandi.."
but i was not deterred. gelak lah sebanyak mana yg korang mau, i was going to have fun with the elephants!
similarly, when i extended the invitation to my friends, i was faced with similar reactions, except from tirah and mazyah. they were game for it. an article about the elephant sanctuary was featured in a local newspaper the previous week so they were all excited to go too. so off we went driving 150km (less than 2 hours drive away) from KL to bathe wild elephants! hoorrayyy!! there were 4 of us nature-loving gals: me, odeng, tirah n maziah.
word of advice: please call the center ahead (u can google the phone number) to book your yellow pass in advance to avoid disappointment. entrance is free but each visitor will need a pass to enter the elephant sanctuary: people with yellow ones can participate in all activities, yellow pass is very limited in number; visitors with red ones can do all except for elephant-riding and elephant-bathing. there's also green one for official visitors. we managed to secure only 3 yellow passes and 1 red one.
- 2 km gandah kuala -
we arrived kuala gandah at about 11 am and got ourselves registered in. since the elephants would only be brought in at 2pm, and the video show started at 12pm (with 30 mins interval until 2pm), we decided to visit the privately-owned Deerland nearby.
- with mounting excitement @ the entrance to the elephant sanctuary -
- registered ourselves first; odeng showing off the yellow pass -
- actually ni belakang toilet.. hehehehe -
the weather was just nice as we reached the Deerland; not too hot and not too cloudy. we paid RM5 each for the entrance and were given a guided tour in the park. First in the itinerary was feeding an 8-year-old male sun bear called Hitam (the accuracy of this info is subject to the correctness of my 2-day-old memory. hehehehe..
).
* corrected by odeng: the bear's name is Muda, not Hitam. hehehhhehe..
- with Hitam (betul ker nama dia ni? *salah. nama sebenar dia Muda) the sun bear @ the Deerland -
- i had to be on my tiptoe to make myself appear taller than the bear! so beruang yg tinggi ker, auntie elle yg pendek ek..? -
then feeding tame deers who were all hungry 24x7 judging by their looks and behaviours! other attractions were the flying squirrels, the ostriches and the parrots, among others.
- deer feeding @ Deerland. plz pay special attention to mazyah
-
- lapoo sgt ker cik rusa ni, nak attack tirah lak.. x padan dgn kecik.. gatal rupanya.. huhuhuh.. -
- me handling an equally gatal male flying squirrel yg x reti nak dok diam biler ngn pompuan -
- with the owner of Deerland, uncle abdullah. ada parrots on his shoulder tau! -
- @ Deerland main entrance -
- sempat lagi tu posing depan keter tirah, our ride for the day -
as much as we wanted to linger around at the park longer, we had to bid adieu to the park and its inhabitants (as well as its owner) since we were hard-pressed to rush back to the elephant sanctuary. we missed the 1:30pm video show so had a quick lunch instead at the local cafe. one nasi goreng ayam and 1 can of kickapoo cost me around RM7++, so i already made a mental note to bring lunch next time i come visiting. there's a nice spot by the river for picnic in the center. and oh yeah.. i will definitely come again to this place!
- odeng menzahirkan rasa sayang nyer terhadap tengkorak gajah -
when we reached the elephant activity area, the elephants keepers had already brought the mammals into the river for some splashing ele-fun, sort of a warming up session before they got up close and personal with the human visitors. i was very eager to jump into the milk-tea-colored water as well but my excitement was doused (much to the disapointment of odeng! tirah n mazyah had already announced earlier that there was no way they would go into the water) when i saw the water+mud substance that was sprayed off the elephants' bodies using tap water by the staff. heck, i might need a more powerful scrub than the strawberry one i have at home (which i didn't have the foresight to bring along) to scrub that off my body were i to join my new friends in the river. so this time, the city gal in me won. perhaps next time, when i am more mentally and physically prepared! hehehehehe..
- baby baru lepas mandi. this one received special attention from her keeper as she has a limp leg from a (maybe) poacher's trap.. cian kann.. -
next, elephant feeding time. the one i fed was a very picky eater - she rejected watermelons and sweet potatoes, only accepting papayas! - whereas the one standing next to her had a healthier appetite - he devoured everything being offered to him! macam manusia gak ek gajah2 ni..
- these elephants mostly understand burmese; seems like the language is simpler for them to comprehend, or so the staff told me -
- feeding a baby, comel lah muka gajah ni! -
after that, visitors with yellow passes were invited to ride the elephants from a platform built about 10 ft off the ground. since maziah had no yellow sticker (kitorang x buli dia aa.. she volunteered to take the red one!), she became our official elephant ride photographer while me, odeng and tirah queued up for our turn. we couldnt share our pass with her since the staff tore the sticker to half to indicate that the bearer of the pass had ridden the elephants so no recycle aa.. we were told that they had to limit the issuance of the yellow pass in order not to tire out the animals.
- gayat sehh.. -
- bareback riding!! -
but what a lucky girl maziah was! she charmed the staff into providing her with a special kind of pass- the green one reserved for official visitors - so she didn't miss the fun of riding the elephants bareback too. and she got to ride it alone (of coz la, with the guide) without having to squeeze in her butts like we did! aaahh...
- depan gajah -
one tip we received from one of the staff when odeng called the center to book passes: wear long and somewhat thicker trousers. the elephants skin's surface is very rough, and the fur (fur ker ek? or hair? i am referring to the bulu lah
) is very hard and wiry. tajam dan mencucuk2 woo..!!
then we watched (the mostly foreign) visitors having fun in the water with one of the elephants. i didn't go in for reasons mentioned above, i was very much content to watch it from afar. hihihihi..
- kat tepi sungai tempat orang mandikan gajah -
- babies.. aren't they cute n adorable...? -
- pusat pemuliharaan gajah - the plaque -
the activities with the elephants ended at about 4pm. there were 2 souvenir stalls that u can check out. before we headed for home, we took our own leisurely time taking a shower at the very clean (very clean even to the malaysian standard that we were very surprised indeed. the toilets were clean too! kudos to the people who keep it that way) changing room. dah alang2 bawak baju sepersalinan kan.. ehehhehe..
oh one more thing before i end my note here: if u visit the elephant sanctuary, dont forget to donate some cash to the center - its for a good cause, trust me!
- for enquiries.. -
- dah dah balik jom balik! -
p/s: the title of this entry is quite misleading since we didnt actually mandikan gajah. hehehehe..
