Elephants

It's been just over a week since we got back from our wonderful time in Coorg, and it's been crazy busy (but good busy) at work. Today is Saturday, the weather is totally beautiful, and while Toby is doing some homework I thought I should get a post up about the elephant sanctuary we visited while we were away.

Emma and I really wanted to visit an elephant place while we were in India, but we had a special reason to go this time - Emma's mother completely loves elephants, so while Em's parents were here we thought we should make the extra effort to see some. Not far from the resort we were staying at is Dubare Elephant Camp, which is a government-run place - their website explains why the camp was set up ("The elephants have been practically retired except for giving some rides to odd tourists") - we had heard that you really get to be close to the elephants, giving them their morning bath in the river and getting to feed them. Sometimes here things don't turn out quite as great as they are promised, but in this case we were totally not disappointed.

The drive from the resort was a bit bumpy and twisty, but we did get to see some wonderful scenery:

We arrived at the opposite side of the river from the camp, and it had a nice touristy feel:

The pier for the ferry - a series of sandbags

We had to clamber along some sandbags to get on the ferry, which was fun, and had a nice quick zoom across the water:

Mahesh and our family on the ferry

Our first view of the elephants in the water

It was totally amazing to see the elephants in the water - people often talk about the amazing experience of swimming with dolphins, which is something I'd love to do, but this was also a wonderful feeling to be with these beautiful animals. Emma's mother was in heaven, and she's in pretty much every photo, petting an elephant (here's the whole web album). Here are a few highlights of us washing the elephants:

After bathtime it was breakfast, and we got to help:

They bake these food cakes for the elephants - the guy shoves them right in the elephants' mouths

We bought a load of cucumbers, which the elephants loved.

It was great to feel the elephants' trunks as they grab the cucumbers from your hand. Finally we had an elephant ride:

They have a big tower to climb to get on and off the elephants

It was a great outing, and we were there for quite a few hours. I did get the feeling that the organizers of the place are missing out on a load of opportunities to make money by having a shop or something to sell souvenirs, but in some ways it was charmingly disorganized. The stars of the show, the elephants, were wonderful, and Emma's mum was probably the happiest person on earth.

Wondering if she could fit this guy in her baggage allowance to take home