I love wild life travelling. Jungles and forests are places where you can visit even 100 times yet be surprised at every sight. Well, what I find interesting is that the different kinds of animal species and their activities you actually get to experience and watch. Above all elephants are the most attractive.They play a vital role acting as keystone species to the Eco system they belong. Elephant or Elephas maximus is basically in two kinds as African elephant and Asian elephant. They are mammals so we can see small elephant babies feeding. Elephants are very intelligent almost equal to that of dolphins and they are the largest living animals on earth. Pretty cool, ah??
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| Kandy Perahera |
A subspecies known as Elephas maximus maximus found only in Sri Lanka is what I have seen. Well it is pretty hard to stay without seeing an elephant if you live in Sri Lanka as from the ancient times, elephant has been considered here as a flagship species. So it means there are plenty of places within the country for elephants. As far as we know elephants do not have natural predators thanks to being the largest to be on earth. However elephants are facing the threats of extinction due to hazardous and harmful activities of humans. As a step to conserve the elephants in Sri Lanka, Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage has been built. Now there are about 80 orphaned elephants care given. Another place is there named "Ath Athuru Sewana" where young calves are nurtured and released back to wild. These two places are much popular among foreign tourists. You can actually see elephants feeding, bathing and many other activities of them.
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| At Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage |
How about elephants in the wild???
Well, wild elephants are menace for the ear by villagers, I must say. Many wild elephants crash into these villages at night and destruct the houses, cultivation etc. There are reports about killing too. There are preventive measures put up covering the national parks like Udawalawe and Wasgamuwa. Udawalawe is ideal for elephant sight seeing. It's fun, a bit risky but nothing to worry, adventurous and mind blowing!!
On your way to Katharagama or Down South through the Udawalawe route, you get to see the park boundaries and if you are fortunate enough, some of our big buddies. It is said that it has been a habit for these wild elephants to come very near the electric wires. I sometimes wonder that I think elephants actually enjoy watching us with half open mouths and say "hey... that's an elephant!!!" Lol...
I heard proof for what I earlier mentioned as elephants being intelligent. You know, even these elephants are untrained and wild, when they come near the electric wires put up to avoid them crashing into villages, they use sticks and throw them into these wires to see if they are working, instead of sticking their trunks!!!!! They must have been informed that these wires carry 10 000V or so.. Lol & lol.
Elephants are very social animals. They care for each other. Specially they move in herds of 3 to 20 or so. Usually a herd is lead by a female elephant along with many male elephants. There are many be families within a herd. Mostly, mother elephant protect the young ones. They are usually dangerous. All male elephants face a time known as musth like our puberty. During this time the elephant is most dangerous, not only for other animals including humans but its own kind too. I was lucky to see such an elephant close enough. In Sinhalese we call this certain situation of elephants as "mada kipima". Mada stands for a certain liquid coming out of the ear of the elephant and believe me you can actually smell it even from 50 yards behind. It is nasty and all the other animals can smell it too so that they won't get near such an elephant with the smell. These elephants get very angry even with slightest bit of disturbance so back off immediately if you see one.
Then there is this habit of elephants; the mud bath. They do this if the atmosphere is extremely hot. Unlike us, elephants do not have sun cream but this mud cover actually act a s a skin protector for them. They must feel extreme hotness in sunny days due to the black color of their skin and hard complex of it. You can follow the elephants by your jeeps. Oops!! I forgot to tell.... When you enter Udawalawe or Wasgamuwa national parks, you get a jeep and a guide for a reasonable charge. They explain everything not only about elephants but all the other animals you get to see. In Udawalawe, you get to see a small museum of elephants. It is truly a blessed scenery to watch live large mammals roaming freely here and there not knowing or may be knowing that some are watching their every move.
Elephants are peaceful creatures. They understand humans to a certain extent. Of course you can see an elephant in a zoo but in my opinion, it is pointless. Elephants in wild have a different and much more interesting story to tell us than the ones in cages. Visit them, understand them. There are few to be gained from them too. Imagine seeing a young elephant with its mother elephant, playing around. That reflects the mother-child bond. And remember people, they are elephants. How many among us actually display it in real life????Not only in Sri Lanka, but there are many sanctuaries in Africa where you can see African elephants such as Serengeti National Park. So enjoy watching them like I did. Share your experiences in Elephant Path with us too.
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