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Subscribe to RSS
Subscribe to CommentsHappy New Year!
06 Feb 2008 17:35 Filed in:
Malaysia 2008
Malaysia 2008
If
you don't know it, today is the first day of the
Chinese New Year of the Rat. There are
celebrations all over town with lion dancers and
acrobats with fire crackers.
We
went on a trip to an elephant sanctuary to look
at the elephants and learn about trans-location
of problem elephants to protected areas. But
before we saw the elephants we were taken to
Deerland, a deer park and checked out some nature
up close and personal.
It was amazing to be so close to creatures that normally we don't get access to. They are usually well behind the fence of a guarded zoo or rarely seen in the wild. Like this fury little creature.
Oh deer,
I thought it was a bit rude though when this deer stuck its tongue out in the background of my photo. Just because I didn't give him any of the sweet potato, doesn't mean he can upstage me!
Bloody show off!
Nice back scratcher....
How cute was this little fellow....
Daddy was pretty cute too, mind you this isn't the first bear I've hugged.... they usually hang out in bars and drink beer.
Ok, elephant time and it was so much fun feeding them and washing them and riding them into the water.
Really recommend checking this place out if you come to Malaysia. You can book it through Endemic Guides. If you want to see the full photo set, click here. The close contact with the elephants was special. I learnt a lot about their plight too. Elephants need a large area of forrest to roam, in order to survive, because the have amazing memories and spend their lives following the same elephant tracks as a herd. They know which plants grow different types of fruit at different times in the year and where water holes are. When a road is made in the forrest, it cuts across the elephant tracks and they need to look for new sources of food. As palm plantations and other industries, like logging, encroach on the forrest, there is less space for the elephants and they run out of food and start to enter villages and plantations to sustain themselves.
They get hungry and the farmers are upset because their crops are ruined and then friction begins and the elephants require re-location. This is the work that the elephant sanctuary carry out. The problem elephants are moved to a protected area of jungle in the hope that they can establish themselves and survive. They are yet to see if this method is working. If it doesn't then the elephants may die out and as many symbiotic species depend on the elephants survival, it won't be long before they too die out.
On that sombre note........Happy New Year!
See you next time.
George
It was amazing to be so close to creatures that normally we don't get access to. They are usually well behind the fence of a guarded zoo or rarely seen in the wild. Like this fury little creature.
Oh deer,
I thought it was a bit rude though when this deer stuck its tongue out in the background of my photo. Just because I didn't give him any of the sweet potato, doesn't mean he can upstage me!
Bloody show off!
Nice back scratcher....
How cute was this little fellow....
Daddy was pretty cute too, mind you this isn't the first bear I've hugged.... they usually hang out in bars and drink beer.
Ok, elephant time and it was so much fun feeding them and washing them and riding them into the water.
Really recommend checking this place out if you come to Malaysia. You can book it through Endemic Guides. If you want to see the full photo set, click here. The close contact with the elephants was special. I learnt a lot about their plight too. Elephants need a large area of forrest to roam, in order to survive, because the have amazing memories and spend their lives following the same elephant tracks as a herd. They know which plants grow different types of fruit at different times in the year and where water holes are. When a road is made in the forrest, it cuts across the elephant tracks and they need to look for new sources of food. As palm plantations and other industries, like logging, encroach on the forrest, there is less space for the elephants and they run out of food and start to enter villages and plantations to sustain themselves.
They get hungry and the farmers are upset because their crops are ruined and then friction begins and the elephants require re-location. This is the work that the elephant sanctuary carry out. The problem elephants are moved to a protected area of jungle in the hope that they can establish themselves and survive. They are yet to see if this method is working. If it doesn't then the elephants may die out and as many symbiotic species depend on the elephants survival, it won't be long before they too die out.
On that sombre note........Happy New Year!
See you next time.
George