Category: Elephants

3 Things You Didn’t Know About Elephants

Elephants are 1 of the 3 only animal species that mourn the death of their own. According to Jason Goldman, journalist at the BBC, elephants, chimpanzees and dolphins have portrayed similar behaviours to human’s when they come across a death of their own. When the young of a chimpanzee has died, the mum walks around carrying it for days after the death. When a dolphin dies the pod swim around the corpse and keep it protected from predators for days following.

Everyone know’s my love for Elephants, I wanted to write about the similarities they have to us humans, despite the very obvious differences.

Let’s start with their brains. The elephant’s brain is the largest among all mammals Continue reading “3 Things You Didn’t Know About Elephants”

Sri Lankan Safari: Udawalawe National Park

Disclaimer* Be prepared for some adorable pictures, that will have you wanting to squeeze baby elephants

In case you havn’t heard, I had the best trip ever in Sri lanka two months ago, and I am completely smitten with Elephants. After the humbling and magical experience visiting an elephant sanctuary in Cambodia last year, I wanted to use every opportunity abroad to get closer to these gentle giants. So there was no doubt that we were going to see them in Sri Lanka.

I have written a previous post on ethical elephant tourism which I want everyone to familiarise themselves and one of my aims is to make aware the places that truly do great conservation work for elephants versus the ones that call themselves orphanages or conservation park but have no interest in the elephant’s well being.

There are a few wild life parks in Sri lanka, Yala and Udawalawe to name the most popular ones. Yala is more popular for leopards while Udawalawe is an elephant-lover’s paradise. The good thing with most wildlife parks is the freedom given to the animals to roam and do what they please, without too much interruption from us humans. All you do is admire from a slight distance, without petting or getting out of safari jeeps.

The park reaches almost 31,000 hectars, enough space to drive for 2-3hours.

TIP: Do not fall into the trap of getting tickets online and through tours, they bunk the price up extensively! Continue reading “Sri Lankan Safari: Udawalawe National Park”

How to Avoid Supporting Elephant Cruelty

June is approaching, as if! Apparently there are only 20 Friday’s left until Christmas?!

I am honestly dreading the day that I wake up and realise I am 30… So while I am getting older and wiser, I shall share my experiences in hopes that it will help you make the right decisions.

Many of us are fascinated by Elephants, I think they are the most mesmerizing mammals to walk this earth. So it is no surprise that elephant rides are such a big hit for zoo’s and any other tourist “sanctuary/orphanage” etc. Even I fell for the trap 7 years ago when I didn’t know better and went for an elephant ride in Phuket, Thailand.

elephant safari udawalawe Continue reading “How to Avoid Supporting Elephant Cruelty”

A day with the rescued Elephants of Mondulkiri

So it is 2018 already huh? I have started the year off being ill and I mean ILL – flu, tonsillitis, fever the whole package. So I am sorry about the radio silence here and I hope anyone reading this is having better luck.

Spending 3 weeks in Southeast Asia in December and spending Christmas and New Year in my birth country was lovely and I cherished all the family time. I also experienced by far the best day of my life  when we travelled to Cambodia. I have a few posts coming up on my trip but I thought my first post of the year should be about the best experience – the elephant sanctuary. Most people know that I love these majestic creatures and in reality my dream job would be to work on elephant conservation, who knows maybe it will still happen one day. But for now, I have to make do with visiting the conservations and donating. In Cambodia, many elephant sanctuaries are found in the less touristy province of Mondulkiri.

How to get there? Take a bus from Phnom Penh (roughly 4.5hours & 10USD)  or Siem Reap (roughly 8 hours & 17 USD). We used Rithya Mondulkiri Express, it was really easy to message them on Facebook and make a reservation and the vans were comfortable.

Please pre-warn anyone you are travelling with of the journey. I failed to mention it to my family because they left me in charge of planing our trip agenda. Listen, if you are not going to get involved in the planning, do not complain during the execution. It was a long drive, but every moment of it was worth it because I got to meet the most beautiful elephants: Princess, Sophia, Lucky, Happy and Comvine with their beloved Mr.Tree, the founder of the Mondulkiri project.

IMG_4126 Continue reading “A day with the rescued Elephants of Mondulkiri”