day 265 | august 29, 2009 | Kuala Gandah Elephant Sanctuary

We went to the Kuala Gandah Elephant Orphanage Sanctuary with roo, tess, lady S, and H for some close encounters with the cute kind. The sanctuary is set-up by the Malaysian Department of Wildlife and National Parks, and is manned by the Elephant Capture and Translocation Unit. The place itself is quite simple and sparse, but the ellies do seem happy and well-cared for. The organization aims to protect and translocate wild elephants whose lives, safety and self-sufficiency are threatened by the thinning forests. It's a lot of work, and requires quite a bit of resources, and they welcome donations to help with the conservation efforts.

Before you go, please do prepare milk and vitamins for the ellies. It's a small sum compared to the HUGE effort this team is investing in ensuring that there are still living ellies for the next generation to enjoy as we do now. 

We left KL at 10:30am. After an hour and a half drive, we arrived at the park a bit too early for the activities. There were no cafeterias/eateries in the immediate area, so i recommend arriving there about 1pm (after enjoying a leisurely lunch), as elly feeding, elly rides, and elly bathing activities start at 2pm. They park allows only the first 120 visitors to feed, ride and bathe the ellies. Despite the wait, the close encounters with the ellies made the afternoon heat all worth it. =) Roo was initially wary, but i think she had fun too.