Neyyar Wildlife Sanctuary: Elephants (July 29, 2023)

Today was a cool one.  Ok, it was actually as hot as ever but we did a lot of 'firsts'. Shaji picked us up at 8:00 am on Saturday, July 29 to go to the Elephant Rehabilitation Centre. They rescue elephants from all over India.  One baby's mother was killed by poachers so they bottle fed it for the first year. They have 160 elephants and most basically live in the jungle that is like 128 sq km.  We arrived when they were washing the elephants.

One of the elephants had finished being bathed and was just enjoying being in the water. He was just swimming around and diving under and splashing. The one close to the shore is just laying down to start her bath. They used to use coconut husks but now they use brushes and the elephants seem to enjoy this.

It was fun to watch the elephant splash himself.




After bathing, the elephants are walked back to their homes.  Many elephants roam wild and some live in covered pavilions with food and a few toys. They shared the story that one was abused by people and would get violent and act up. It needed to stay in an enclosure and settle down and in a few weeks, it would join the others.


This male elephant and a boy part that almost drags the ground.



Bowl Boat


After watching the elephants bathe, we went on a bowl boat ride to see more elephants and the water that they use to bathe.  Once again, we had to take our shoes off. Much of our life here is barefoot.

We had to sit in positions to help     balance the boat.  Marshall was on one side and I was on the other.  The driver was in the middle.


The lake reminded me of Lake Watauga with the mountains in the background and so much protected land. It is a wildlife preserve so the only ones that can live here are the original tribal people.



Our boat driver was using a canoe paddle but it was a different stroke to keep the circular boat moving forward and not spinning around. The boat was basically made out of bamboo and then it had a vinyl tarp and it was then coated in what was most likely thick tar. We even rowed up under some branches and there was a really cool green snake hanging down from the branches.  He said it was not poisonous and the other guy said maybe. We didn't take any chances.  



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