The Elephants of Kuala Gandah Pop to the Top

After twenty plus hours sitting in the back of a plane, I reached the familiar house where I grew up near Princeton NJ late last night. Nat and Val were eager to find out about the trip. What I love about my two parents is that they are always so interested, so inquisitive, and they really do want to hear the answer. It’s an endearing and lovely quality of theirs.

The things you mention in these moments when somebody asks you ‘what was it like?’ are what sum it all up. The ones that pop up to the top, when the past two weeks are still a jumble of wild images, people we met, and tastes we experienced.

I told them about the elephants at the Kuala Gandah Elephant Sanctuary. Here mistreated or endangered elephants are taken from parts of Thailand and Borneo and some are relocated back into the wild. The public is allowed to spend time with them here, and we joined an enthusiastic group of Europeans, Chinese and Malaysian tourists when the park opened at 2:45 pm to greet them face to face. One man annoyed a small elephant in some way and ended up being chased by the chained creature until he took refuge behind a tree. The pachyderms use their trunks like two big srong fingers to open up fruit, and cleverly use their massive weight to crush baobob trees and dig out the tender insides with their trunks.

Then it was time to get wet. We watched the guides ride elephants into the water and quickly get thrown into the brown flowing drink as the animals rolled and basked in the water. It would be the visitors’ turn soon, and they all lined up four and five people up on each elephant to take their turns being taken for a ride and then joining the elephant in the river.