I PROMISE TO NEVER EVER RIDE AN ELEPHANT AGAIN!

Tuesday 23rd Nov - elephant trek
Originally we had planned to come to Sen Monorom (the mountainous jungle in north east Cambodia) to visit 'the elephant valley project' an elephant sanctuary, unfortunately we had not been able to get in contact with anyone from the project so had instead booked an elephant trek with our friend Tina, whom we had stayed with on Sunday night. We were to have two elephants and trek down to the waterfall, through the jungle.
We started our trek in a little village, Stash and me had an elephant with a Mahout (elephant driver) who was 13 years old and Bob and Osk had a Mahout who also happened to be on babysitting duty that day.

Although the elephants were amazing and the jungle was beautiful the whole experience was a bit distressing. Our mahout whacked the elephant with a stick every 5 minutes and Bob and Oskar's mahout gave the stick (with a rock attached to the end) to his baby who swung it around haphazardly like a 2 yr old would, hitting the elephant at random. So by the end of the trip we felt pretty awful and terribly guilty for putting the elephants through this. It was also the most uncomfortable ride ever and would have been much nicer and quicker to have just walk through the jungle on foot.

Wed 24th Nov - elephant valley project
Hooray - we had finally managed to arrange a trip out to the sanctuary! We were slightly dubious as we had heard various unpleasant stories about Jack - the guy who ran the project. He picked us up at 7am and we drove the 20 minutes journey into the jungle - by the time we got there Bob wanted to punch Jack in the head! He is just one of those people that has the ability to wind you up the wrong way. But we were there for the elephants, not the people.  Jack took us down to the elephant washing station where we met 'm?.....' a beautiful shy elephant who is blind in one eye - caused by being hit with a stick like the one the baby was swinging around the day before.

Jack was our guide for the morning and it soon became clear he is actually a lovely person - he just cares more about elephants than people. The sanctuary is fantastic, all the elephants are domesticated ones who have been abused, mostly because of the tourist trade - cos us tourists just love to ride an elephant! The abuse ranges from big holes in their heads, chopped off tails and tusks, damaged spines (they are not built to carry fat tourists on their backs) and malnutrition - elephants spend about 20 hrs a day eating - something they cannot do when they are trekking with tourists. Apart from feeling very ashamed the rest of the day was a dream; we watched the elephants from a distance as they played in the water, ate and generally just hung out doing elephant stuff.

After lunch we got to wash .... Wow - how lucky are we! She likes you to fill up her trunk with water and then she sprays it on the bits of her body where she wants extra washing - she also decided to give Oskar an elephant shower - he must have been a bit smelly.

Thank you so much to all the elephants at 'Elephant Valley Project' and Jack for being a star. We had the best time ever! For anyone who wants to visit or volunteer make a donation the website is: www.elie-Cambodia.org

Stash said: the elephant project was better then the elephant trek instead of riding them we made them more comfy by letting them do what they want rather then ride them giving them pain in their back. Elephants are very much like us we do not go on all fours giving people rides so neither do they, if it gives pains in our back it gives pains in theirs. I AM NINE BY THE WAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There are few more things I'de like to say before I go.

1. Humans do not rule the earth which means animals can do what ever they want.

2. Don't, I mean, don't kill animals for fun, fur, antler's, tusks and other stuff.

3. Please keep animals existing by that I mean alive until your 99 or dead.

Thank you please listen to this information every one who hunts animals

Location:Mondulkiri - Cambodia