You know we said we were hoping to ride on elephants? We got our wish and a whole lot more! Barty and Arnie took us off to Elephant XL, a camp for elephants who have either retired from working in the jungle helping pull down trees (very hard work and not very good for the environment) or who have been rescued when their mothers have been shot by poachers.
We went for 2 days to learn to be mahouts (they are the people who look after the elephants).
When we arrived we made friends with a little girl called Lilla and some other people who came along just for the morning, then we took a boat across the river from the Elephant Lodge, the place we were staying, to the elephant camp where the elephants spend their day time.
Once we got there we went for a ride on two of the elephants. There are seven elephants and a baby at the camp but only two were there when we arrived, so Barty had to sit on the elephant's neck while two ladies rode in the howdah (that's the wooden seat thing).
Arnie went on a different elephant and he started off in the howdah but ended up on the elephant's neck as well.
We stayed in the back pack for that first trip, but then we got a bit more adventurous. Teddy bear was quite comfortable on the elephant's head with this very young mahout (do you remember what that word means?) to look after him.
Us little people didn't have such a good time though, our elephant kept stretching up to eat food from trees and whenever she did, we all fell over! Rabbit even fell right off, and nearly got trodden on.
After the elephant ride we went back in the boat to a lovely waterfall and watched Barty enjoying a swim.
In the next pool down some elephants were also enjoying a swim!
After the waterfall we had lunch then said goodbye to Lilla and the other people who had to go back. Lucky us got to stay and take the elephants into the jungle so they could spend the night finding food. That was it for the day and we all got an early night because we had to be up early next morning.
The first job when we got up was to collect the elephants from the jungle and take them down to the river for a bath because they got filthy looking for food.
It was great fun - Barty and Arnie had big scrubbing brushes and the elephants semed to really like it, especially the baby which swam around the big ones going right under water.
After their bath the elephants had a snack of bamboo for a treat which they carried back to the camp with them.
Next job was to fit the howdah on each elephant.
Because we only rode on the neck the day before, we all got a little ride round the camp. It was MUCH more comfortable and safe.
The last job of all was feeding them some bananas. Arnie and Barty did it with their teeth for some strange reason.
We just did it the normal way.
That was it for the elephants. Here are the words we learned to control them:
- sai = left
- kha = right
- how = stop
- pai = go
- doom = go backwards
- map = lie down
We hope you all have a lovely time at Baz and Bompas's this weekend. We will all be in New Zealand by then, except Arnie who has to go back to Michigan to work. It's about -15 degrees c there, a bit of a change from the heat here!
Lots of love from us all, and from Barty and Arnie too.
P.S. from Barty to Jake the cheeky monkey,
Thank you for the comments Jake, will you come to the Croccy Trail with me? I'd be scared of being eaten by a crocodile on my own. Did Daddy like the cakes you made?
Lots of love from Barty XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
P.S. from Barty to Thom and Lauren,
Have a lovely day at Baz and Bompa's today, I hope you are both having fun at school. Lots of love from Barty. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
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