How many pineapples can an elephant eat? Mondulkiri, Cambodia

Erik: Some weeks back we'd read about the Elephant Valley Project in Mondulkiri. The original purpose of the project was to bring medical treatment to the poor, over-worked elephants in the Mondulkiri region, but the project had evolved into more of a sanctuary for old or sick domestic elephants, with an eco-tourism element which allows visitors to learn about and ride them. We finally gave them a call from Kratie and were happy to find out that they had space for us the next day to come and visit. That night we packed our day bags for a 2-3 day trip out there, and set off the next morning.

After a short bus ride to the ugly transport hub of Snoul, we shopped around for some sort of shared-taxi to the main Mondulkiri town of Sem Monorom. At the end of much asking around, we finally found a pickup truck heading that way. Remembering our horror-story pickup ride into the Moskitia in Honduras, we paid a bit extra to make sure we were seated up front in the cab, though with 8 of us packed in there, it was hardly comfortable. At least we weren't piled with the 12 others and a ton of cargo in truck's bed! After about 4 hours and one flat tire, we rolled into town just in time for our 3pm meeting with EVP founder Jack Highwood. An hour later, we bumped our way along a bad dirt road in Jack's pickup to the EVP. Along the way, Jack pointed out the unbelievable deforestation in the area. “Last week that was dense jungle forest there” he would say, pointing at a bald hillside, still smoking from the fire they had used to clear it. All the surrounding fields were equally bare for as far as we could see...

We were very happily surprised with the EVP set up – especially the new lodge and bungalows where we'd be staying – very nicely furnished, and boasting views over the (still) lush jungle valleys below. Wow – not nearly as rustic as we'd imagined our lodging would be. We had our own private bungalow, as did our fellow visitors, Daniela, an Italian psychologist living in New Zealand, and Arman, from Toronto. Nice.

Those of you familiar with our history of strike difficulties will laugh to hear that the next morning over coffee we found out that the elephants had gone on strike. Well, not the elephants themselves, but their mahouts (handlers.), hoping for more than Jack's already quite generous elephant salary. So instead of hands-on elephant training, we toured the facilities, saw the hospital and school which were still being built. We did SEE the elephants, but the mahouts would not take them out to play. Sigh. That afternoon the strike continued, so we trekked on foot out to a nearby waterfall, which though elephant-free, was still quite beautiful, cool and relaxing.

Next morning the strike was resolved, ($2.50 pay raise) and we made our way down to the valley to meet the elephants. They'd brought out EZ Rider and Gee Nyal (the two are inseparable, apparently.) Daniela and Arman went for a ride, then Talor and I got to meet them, learn their body language, etc. They really are amazing animals, and have such intelligent-looking eyes. Talor doesn't believe in riding animals, but I did take a spin on Gee Nyal, which was very interesting, though I doubt I'd do it again. Though I'm hardly a burden for this huge animals, my legs work just fine for getting around!

The previous night another of the elephants, Princess, had escaped, and Jack asked me if I'd like to help him look for her that afternoon while Daniela and Arman went for a longer elephant trek. I agreed readily, as we'd be visiting local villages and forests. They found Princess just before we set off, however – she'd been in one of the village's pineapple patches, so Jack and I went off to survey the damage. As it turns out, she'd eaten 106 of their pineapples. 106! (We had to count all the destroyed plants so that Jack could properly compensate the village...) To his credit, Jack kept a sense of humor about the whole scene and laughed to himself about the folly of his day-to-day life. On our way back, he toured the village with me, showing me many large craters from American bombs dropped during the Vietnam war, a dirty well which was giving the children dysentery, and the school, where kids had chalked scenes of men shooting each other with automatic weapons. My general Cambodian depression continued to grow. At least I'd finished reading that good, but oh-so-sad Graham Greene novel...

The next morning we were off, and except for getting stuck in the mud and another flat tire, we had little problem getting back to Kratie. (Oh, there WAS that 4 hour layover in beautiful Snoul.) I was very impressed by Jack Highwood and his EVP. He's quite young (mid-late twenties?), and yet has started up this ambitious project in the middle of nowhere, Cambodia, taught himself to speak Khmer, all within the confines of an extremely corrupt and bureaucratic government. Quite a feat for anyone, let alone someone so young. He has supporters and donations from around the world, and is getting more-and-more tourism and volunteers. Good luck, Jack! If anyone cares to visit or donate to the EVP, the website is here:

http://elie-cambodia.org/elieecotourism.html

Talor: Though I wasn't too keen on going back into a jungle, I wanted another chance to spend some quality time with elephants. Yes, it was an uncomfortable 4-hour bumpy ride to Sen Monorom and then another 45-minute bone-jarring ride to EVP, but I wanted to see elephants! As Erik said, the cabins were huge and gorgeous and far more luxurious than we had expected with our own bathroom and running water. But it was in the middle of the jungle... electricity for only 3 or 4 hours in the evening, a steep climb up a dirt/muddy path to get to the lounge/kitchen/dining area where we took our mostly vegetarian meals and there was no shortage of mosquitoes, ants and giant spiders.

But the elephants were magnificent! Though Jack tried to get me to ride one, I was just happy to watch. They are wonderfully amazing creatures with such soulful eyes! Just seeing them made the trip worthwhile!

Photos from the EVP:

Mondulkiri, Cambodia - The Elephant Valley Project