Habarana and Wild elephants

MEF provide a field trip to all volunteers to visit a small jungle village that they work with to try and resolve the human-elephant conflict and then to a national park to hopefully see wild elephants.

I had one of the guides from MEF with me who was lovely. I tempted fate again and ate breakfast at a street stall but it was fresh and delicious (and ridiculously cheap). Then we visited the village where the locals took us around to show us where wild elephants had knocked down their houses. Very frightening for them, as their properties back onto the jungle and the village is pretty much in the elephant's path. MEF have provided warning bells for when elephants are approaching the village. The men sit in treehouses all night while their crops are growing and ring the bell to warn other villagers that an elephant is approaching and also to warn the elephant that humans are near. It has obviously been very effective because the villagers asked for a further 5 bells the next time MEF visit. They just looked so pleased to be able to do something to protect their crops and therefore their livelihood, without having to resort to cruelty or even killing the elephants.

The children were particularly sweet and we visited a pre-school and the older children followed us around and showed us their homes. There is a lot of work to do with the human-elephant conflict but there are many small initiatives such as this that provide some sense of relief and hopefully saves both human and elephant lives.

Then we hopped into a jeep and went into the national park. At first, we didn't have much luck with wild elephants and settled for some water buffalo and eagles (which were pretty cool). We started driving again and I spotted (yes not our actual 'spotter') a 12 year old female right next to our vehicle in the water. She was beautiful. She was slowly making her way to the trees to eat so we moved on. We saw another vehicle about 100m away and noticed they within about 2 metres of a mother and calf. Unfortunately, we were unable to drive to them because it would have meant driving out and back in to get to them. So my driver kept going and the most amazing thing happened. We drove to a flatter area and we saw a small herd of about 8 elephants. However, when we stopped the vehicle and took another look, the field contained approximately 50 wild elephants! It was like an elephant haven. And what a wonderful sight it is to see them wild and in their natural habitat. My ideas about domestic elephants changed in that instant as I watched them interacting with each other, feeding and just enjoying their freedom. As much as I loved interacting with the elephants at MEF and being up close and treating the sick and elderly elephants who would probably have a much worse life if not for MEF, nothing compares to seeing them in the wild. I was breathless.

We drove around a bit more and saw baby elephants, although the mothers did a wonderful job of making sure they were between their baby and us. My guide was very safety aware as he had been chased by a wild male before, so when a male came towards us with his trunk up and ears up (you always want to see them moving and on this occasion, they weren't!), we knew it was time to go. We drove to this rock and climbed up for a wonderful view of the jungle and it was just like paradise. We made the right decision to leave the male alone because the next jeep that came through the trees was chased and almost run down by the male. Quite frightening and the noise was something else. We all left them alone after that to return to their place of peace and tranquility and hopefully safety.

My driver then took me to Sigiriya where I would stay the night and start my final couple of days in Sri Lanka.

Today was such a beautiful day and one that will not be easily erased from my mind.