Elephants and teak

 

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The remote forests of Burma are home to many different species – tigers, bears and elephants.   We are not in the right area to see elephants in the wild but before we start our third day of cycling we visit the small, and extremely charming, Green Hill elephant sanctuary set up by a retired vet and his family just two years ago.  The sanctuary is a perfect retirement home for 6 elderly elephants pensioned off from government logging projects and one young orphaned elephant that was readily adopted by one of the older females.

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The sanctuary not only provides a comfortable home for the elephants – with plenty of land for them to roam and forage for food each night – it also has to house each elephant’s mahout (handler) and their extended families!  There are wooden houses and carefully tended gardens for each mahout, and the sanctuary owners also set up a school for their children and others from the local area. 

 

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Asian elephants eat 150kg of food a day, so making sure the land can support them is vital to the success of the project.  They are also given food supplements at the central compound, and visitors are encouraged to feed them bananas and to help the mahouts wash them in the river.  Luckily we had two willing volunteers to help with the bathing, leaving the rest of us on camera duty.

  Over the last 20 years much of Burma’s primary teak forest has been cut down and sold to raise cash for the military government.  Sadly no one thought to plant more trees until now.  I believe some secondary forests are being established and the elephant sanctuary is doing its bit to help, with each visitor planting a teak seedling – essentially as an advertisement to locals that this is a good thing to do. 

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Before we set off on the day’s cycle to Pindaya we have one final treat in store.  Back at the owner’s house a table on the terrace is set with an array of delicious local food for us to taste.  It’s not long since breakfast, but we tuck in heartily and forgo lunch later in the day.  If you are in the Kalaw area, this is definitely worth a visit.