THE ELEPHANT TRANSIT HOME AKA ORPHANAGE

WEATHER: Welcome back to the heat 34C  

HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY: Seeing the baby elephants play together

BUMMER OF THE DAY: Having to upgrade our accommodation-Princesses

WORD OF THE DAY:  Tuskless

DISTANCE TRAVELLED: 170km

BUDDHA QUOTE FOR THE DAY:

"What you are is what you have been.
What you'll be is what you do now."

Today was our longest day on the road.  Even though it was only 170km, the roads are windy and it just takes time to navigate them properly, especially as we drop from the pleasant climate of 1400m above sea level to literally sea level this afternoon.  The drive was broken up with a few stops with our final destination Mirissa for 2 glorious nights beside the beach. 

A little bit of a lie in this morning till 6.15am, breakfast at 7am (that had been pre-ordered the night before) and then a departure time of 7.45am.  I had packed everything last night so I was ready early and decided to hit the restaurant early and finish my tuk tuk accident day.  It’s nice that everyone keeps checking the progress of where I am in my blog; it helps me to keep on top of it all.  When I told the guys I had just written up about the accident I read them the exert of the fall, from my point of view of course, and I think they all seemed genuinely impressed.  I was picked up on one small detail when Gary said he took hold of my shoulder and not my handle bars to which everyone concurred, so I was going to change it in the blog and then forgot, so I am putting that down to creative license, just because I can.  The days are slipping by and I am currently holding at a week behind, but this is ‘just’ ok.  After being 24 days behind in August anything less than that is a walk in the park, but that literally took me 11 days of solid work to catch up again.  I still shudder when I think about that. 

After 20 minutes we pulled over to the side of the road where there was a small statue of Buddha and a small offering was made for our safe travel of passage today.  It doesn’t take long, the backup driver jumps off and is back within 2 minutes.  I like it.  We had a view stop at 9am at a place called Ella.  We stopped at a 5 star hotel for the use of their bathrooms and to get some photos of Ella’s Gap.  It was stunning from here and we also managed to finally get a group shot with us all in and it looks amazing. Ella is a place blessed with some of the most beautiful and breathtaking views, you could find in Sri Lanka. Located 230km from Sri Lanka’s Capital City Colombo, this small town is used as a base for plenty of trekking expeditions to the surrounding countryside.  So not my cup of tea to stay for any long duration but certainly worth the stop for the pictures.

Back on the road again and we did another roadside temple blessing.  One is good; two makes me wonder just how busy/dangerous the roads are today that we are travelling on.  They are certainly windy and as they drive on the left, we are on the edge of the mountain that drops into a valley, but it doesn’t look any more dangerous than what we have previously driven on.  Well I will take the blessings as they come, everything helps and I am certainly not one to judge.  We had one more morning stop not far from Ella and it was at the Rawana Ella Falls.  Located are about 5km away on the road south through Ella Gap. They're quite spectacular. There were a few touts selling tourist junk but if don’t make eye contact with the product or the seller they will generally leave you alone and try their luck on some-one else.  The falls run over a massive rock face and Indika was saying that people try and climb the rocks (when intoxicated) and 32 people have lost their lives here.  Seems like a pretty high number…..  It was busy here with other tourists and was the last point of a ‘view’ as we were nearly back down to sea level, you could just feel it in the temperature.  It was going to be a hot one today. 

We had one more stop before the Elephant Transit Home and that was a roadside stop along the Udawalawe National Park.  We followed the electrified fence of the national park for a while before seeing some elephants by the fence hoping to be fed by people.  The national park was created to provide a sanctuary for wild animals displaced by the construction of the Udawalawe reservoir on the Walawe River, as well as to protect the catchment of the reservoir. The reserve covers 30,821 hectares (119.00 sq mi) of land area and was established on 30 June 1972. Before the designation of the national park, the area was used forshifting cultivation (chena farming). The farmers were gradually removed once the national park was declared.  Udawalawe is an important habitat for water birds and the Sri Lankan Elephants. It is a popular tourist destination and the third most visited park in the country.  The elephants were massive and it was a little nerve wracking that all that separated these magnificent animals from us was a 4m high electric fence.  I wonder how many volts are coursing through the fence, obviously enough as the elephants were keeping at least a 1/2m distance from the wire.  I am sure if they really wanted to they could charge the fence, we were seriously standing within 3m of these mighty beasts.  They really were massive, but I haven’t been this close to an elephant standing on the ground looking up at one since my visit to Zimbabwe over 13 years ago and we did an animal safari on one.  There were 5 elephants here, a mother, 2 babies (still big as) and 2 others who we were not sure of their sex.  One looked like he had a constant smile on his face, one was showing us his trunk skills and they even let out a few trumpets which was pretty cool to hear.  They are free roaming in the park, so that is nice to know, the fence is there to protect them from wondering into villages and wandering on the road but it is a little sad they know to come to the fence to get food and as we drove off one of the stall owners were throwing a bunch of banana’s over the fence.  I guess if tourists stop he gets business and he is looking out for his welfare and the animals gain? Or not?  It is a vicious circle of life that is for sure.   

At 11.45 we made it to the Elephant Transit Centre and good timing it was as the babies were to be fed at 12 noon.  Perfect!  When we stepped off the bus we could see a small owl perched above in the tree.  It was so cute and I was able to get some photos of what is normally a nocturnal animal. The Udawalawe Elephant Transfer Home is a facility within Udawalawe National Park in Sri Lanka that was established in 1995 by the Sri Lanka Department of Wildlife Conservation. Its primary objective is to rehabilitate orphaned elephant calves for ultimate release back into the wild.  Sri Lankan Elephants are an endangered species and their survival in their natural habitats is threatened due to human activities. Elephants in the wild are constantly being killed, and many elephant calves become orphaned. In order to support these orphaned elephants, the Department of Wildlife Conservation set up the Elephant Transit Home with help from the Born Free Foundation.  There are currently 32 orphaned elephant calves being looked after. The elephant calves are released to the jungle after they become strong enough to survive in their natural habitats. As of 2008, sixty-five elephants had been released to the jungle.

The main objective of this facility is rehabilitation of orphaned baby elephants to ultimately release them back into their natural habitat. Up to three elephants per week are killed in Sri Lanka due to conflicts with humans, often leaving behind orphan calves. The elephants are kept at part of the Udawalawa National Park to maintain familiarity with their habitat, but have access to both food and medical care.  All care at the facility is by trained staff, and efforts are made to minimize contact between elephants and humans to keep the elephants from becoming acclimated to humans. Although visitors can watch the elephants being fed, they are not allowed to touch or otherwise interact with them.  While at the center, contact with humans is deliberately minimized so that the elephants will not acclimate to humans. Elephant calves are looked after until they are 5 years, when they are released to the wild. The elephants are fitted with radio collars to help wildlife officials monitor their movements, behavior and progress. To erase any residual human smell and help insure their acceptance among their wild cousins, the elephants are given a bath in diluted elephant dung before being release.  We had time to have a quick look at a small museum that was on site and it was quite interesting to read facts and figures on these giant mammals. 

The Sri Lankan elephant is one of three recognized subspecies of the Asian elephant, and native to Sri Lanka. Since 1986, Elephas maximus has been listed as endangered by IUCN as the population has declined by at least 50% over the last three generations, estimated to be 60–75 years. The Sri Lankan elephant population is now largely restricted to a few National Parks and Nature Reserves.  In general, Asian elephants are smaller than African elephants and have the highest body point on the head. The tip of their trunk has one finger-like process. Their back is convex or level. Females are usually smaller than males, and have short or no tusks.  Sri Lankan elephants are the largest subspecies reaching a shoulder height of between 2 and 3.5 m, weigh between 2,000 and 5,500 kg, and have 19 pairs of ribs. Their skin color is darker than of indicus and of sumatranus with larger and more distinct patches of depigmentation on ears, face, trunk and belly.  Only 7% of males bear tusks.  Elephants are classified as megaherbivores and consume up to 150 kg of plant matter per day. As generalists they feed on a wide variety of food plants.  Between 1999 to the end of 2006 every year nearly 100 wild elephants were killed. Elephants are killed to protect crops and houses. Other threats are poaching, deforestation, drought and starvation. During drought seasons many elephants damage agricultural land for food. Nearly 80 elephants were killed in north western Sri Lanka, 50 in south and east, and another 30 in other parts of the country, totaling 160 elephant deaths in 2006 alone.  Appalling. 

It was time now to head to the yard where we were to see the babies come out for one of their 8 feeds they get each day.  Only 3 feeds are open for the public.  For some reason I had a pre-conceived idea that we would be right up at the fence and the babies would come over to say hi and that we would get to touch them.  I guess that was a pipe dream and makes no sense as they are trying to minimize contact with humans so that they can release them back with the less amount of fuss.  And there I am thinking about myself.  So we were on a verandah running parallel to the feeding trough and as we waited there was one little guy that was limping and was on his own.  He came in for a feed and the careers use a funnel and a long tube that the babies then open their mouths and pour a certain amount of powdered milk into the funnel.  I was wondering if this was the only elephant we got to see when in the distance you could see a herd of babies of all sizes coming in a single file through a gate at the back of the yard.  Some were holding the one in front’s tails, some were running in and others were just taking their time.  Only 3-4 elephants could be fed at one time, some pushed, so tried to come back for seconds and others played while they waited!  It was pretty cool to see and within 15 minutes all 32 babies had been fed and were walked again out of the yard and into the park to wander around again till the next feed.  I can see why our little injured friend was on the other side of the fence, he was so much smaller than the others and we later found out his leg had been caught in a trap and had to be amputated and he will be one of the very few that will not be released back to the wild as he will just not survive.  But WOW, that is how you feed 32 babies in 15 minutes.  They are all bought home at 6pm, accounted for and put to bed for the night and they are all individually named. 

We had lunch at a small café across from the Transit Home that we had bought with us the previous day and then we were back on the road again for our final destination of Mirissa and some beach and relax time.  We arrived into Mirissa at 3pm and from first impression we were going to be in a magic place.  The resort was directly next to the ocean and the sea breeze was so refreshing.  We were shown to our little bungalow rooms that were walking distance from the main resort passing the swimming pool to the right and a marvelous stretch of beach to the left that had deck chairs and shade of small coconut trees.  It was a magic spot.  Our bungalows were obviously the first accommodations at the resort and they were a little ‘rustic’.  Now rustic I can handle, I have seen my share of run down accommodation and this wasn’t that bad but a little strange as you had to pass through the shower, open a door to get to the toilet tucked away in the corner of the bungalow!  But for me the killer was no air-conditioning.  Again this is not normally a concur if there is a fan and windows, but these windows didn’t have fly screen on them, so with beasties at night I posed the question to Lenore if she wanted to upgrade to an air-conditioned room.  She was all for it and I said I think it will be around 50AUD a night, but I’ll go and check.  So Indika and I went to the office and were told that it was 44AUD per night, that was only 22 bucks each and I said I will take it, but it had to be a twin.  Well that was a small issue and was told it is a king bed and a rollaway for the twin configuration and did I want to check it out.  So they showed me the room and it was a lot newer and had the magic air-con.  I was in, even if it meant me sleeping on the rollaway, that didn’t worry me in the least.  It was a done deal.  So I reported back to Lenore and we had our bags moved to the new room.  It was stifling hot and I could not imagine not have air-con.  Cal me a Princess, but I don’t care.  Let’s see how the others all sleep tonight!!

The accommodation came with breakfast and dinner included so we met up again at 7pm for dinner.  After a cocktail and a few cold beers I was happy to stay on with the gals for a few drinks after everyone said their goodnights around 9pm.  We all sat on the beach and we chatted and sang till it was well past my bed time at midnight and I left the other 3 on the beach to finish what alcohol they had obtained before the bar had shut hours ago. 

This really is a piece of heaven on earth and I am looking at spending the day here tomorrow.