In 200
acres of a lush green valley in the hills near Kalaw, Myanmar, there's an inspiring project to
share the care of elephants with responsible tourism. The Green Hill Valley
Elephant Camp with Replantation opened in October 2011 with the aim of caring
for aged elephants. There are 7 elephants here: most are aged over 50 and
'retired' from the logging industry but one is a rescued orphan aged 5.
I had been
concerned about the exploitation of elephants - having seen adverts for performances and painting classes at some elephant camps - but had no such worries about
this camp after our visit. The welfare of the elephants is of paramount
importance and an absolute maximum of only 20 visitors per day allowed.
We spent a
fantastic half day there learning about, feeding, washing and having a ride
back from the river with these amazing, gentle giants. The baby elephant is a real character: cheekily pushing himself between the adults to grab pieces of food from our hands! But then they all have their individual characters and are clearly happy with their mahouts who work alongside them every day. The eldest female is blind in one eye and needs a lot of TLC. There is no doubt that all of the elephants are content with their lives up in the hills.
Each evening, the elephants are left to wander the hills within the perimeter of the camp. They wear wooden 'bells' around their necks so that the mahouts can locate them in the mornings and bring them into the camp for feeding, washing and any treatments.
There is a focus on responsibility towards the environment as well as the animals, so we had the
opportunity to plant a tree to help with reforestation.
Finally, we enjoyed a
delicious 3 course lunch with magnificent views across the camp, hills and valley.
Thank you to the mahouts and all of the staff who run
the camp, but especially to our two elephant hosts Yu Moe Yin and Hlun Ma Ma
who were the real stars.
No comments:
Post a Comment