A friend recommended a visit to Elephant Nature Park. It's a care center for rescued elephants. Instead of making money out of them they ask for volunteers who pay to come and help to keep the park up and running. The elephants are fed by the visitors, but the park also needs to be cleaned, the elephant kitchen needs to be run and lots of other jobs need to be done.
Most of these elephants have an awful history: circus, abuse by owner, car crashes, land mines, etc.It's a good thing those animals end up here to get a second chance instead of being exploited again for tourists pleasures like elephant riding.
One elephant really got my attention: Meadow. Her both hips were broken because she was forced to mate. They tied her up so she couldn't move and had the male elephant climb her. Male elephants can get very aggressive while mating and because she couldn't move the weight on her hips became unbearable I just can't believe how some people have such a lack of respect towards animals. These stories break my heart every time! We fed her and gave her a bath at the river. She has a very hard time to walk. Our tour guide told us that she learned to live with it. Her 'accident' happened about 10 years ago. She's amazing!Another thing that amazed me was how they care for each other. They make friends within their herd just like people. Elephants who need extra care, attention and love are looked after by their friends. They defend the one that's sad or sick. One elephant had a miscarriage about 6 months ago. Two elephants approached her to take care of her because she was so sad. It was truly touching, this story.
After feeding the elephants we had lunch ourselves. After that we visited the clinic and washed both elephants who had to stay there for medical treatment. We also did some work in the kitchen by washing some pumpkins.
We got a tour around the whole domain to meet with all the elephant families. We got to take a look at a two month old. We couldn't get very close. The family protected the baby very well. At one point we even needed to run, because the auntie came closer and closer.
Not only elephants have their home here. Cats, dogs, waterbuffalos and other animals are also sheltered here. Dogs and cats can be adopted.
Every animal in this park is being looked after. They give them medical care, food and lots and lots of love. Certainly visit this park. Give your money a purpose instead of riding an elephant for pleasure. These ellies are not being cared after!
It was a fantastic trip and certainly the most 'money well spend'-attraction so far!
No comments:
Post a Comment