South India Elephant Sanctuaries
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Some elephants, however, are enjoying less stressed lives as they find protection as an endangered species and are used more and more in tourism. Along with these changes, local young men have renewed interest in working with the elephants, reviving the tradition of mahouts.
In the morning the manager of the camp escorted us through the jungle and provided us with details about the wildlife and history of the camp. A highlight was watching the camp men boil and prepare giant grain balls for the elephant’s breakfast. The hungry pachyderms gathered nearby for their early meal. Anil was quite taken by a young elephant that specialized in using his trunk to steal food right out of his elder’s mouths.
After breakfast we enjoyed a short elephant ride and participated in an elephant scrub bath. One of the ways mahouts and elephants enjoy a strong bond is through a daily ritual of bathing. This practice allows the mahouts to gain an intimate understanding of their elephants and to cultivate relationships that allow them to control the elephants through touch and with simple verbal commands.
A few days later we traveled to Elephant Valley, near Kodaikanal, a hill station in Tamil Nadu. Spread over 100 acres, it is part eco-lodge, part nature reserve, and part organic coffee plantation. Our cottage was built with local granite, reclaimed Burma teak, and colonial art deco furniture from India. The privately run estate uses solar lights, kerosene lamps, and dry composting toilets. A huge organic garden and coffee estate provides local jobs and makes a contribution to sustainable development in the region.
The Elephant Valley staff members are involved in numerous efforts in vegetable gardening, seed sowing, transplanting, harvesting, composting, earth worm cultivation, eco-sanitation, nutrition, water and soil conservation, forest botany, and cultural preservation. They also promote the conservation of genuine traditional varieties of vegetables through their organic farm where all types of fruits, vegetables and spices including coffee are grown by using traditional methods of organic farming. All of the food that is provided to the guests come from the farm and is cooked in traditional local Indian style. It’s one of the few places in India we were able to devour tasty fresh salads without worrying about getting sick. The farm often hosts programs for local schools including the nearby Kodaikanal International School.
Elephant Valley is situated on the edge of the forest and on an ancient elephant migratory route. While we did not see elephants during our 3-day stay, we saw visible evidence of them as the estate manager and naturalist taught us how to track them. A path of squashed plants, bent trees, and fresh elephant dung allowed us to follow the tracks of a mother and a young elephant that passed by only a few hundred feet from our cottage.
Anil enjoyed trekking, especially a half-hour walk to the top of a waterfall, the point where the cascade leaps off a precipitous cliff. A longer, 2-hour trek took us through jungle and hilltops where we saw Neolithic dolmens, similar to those in Europe. Placed at intervals close enough to watch people travel from one to another, some scientists argue that they served as a small protective fortress from wild animals for hunters and travelers. We were able to view a lot of wildlife, including a close (enough) encounter with a guar, or wild jungle bison.
Camp workers prepare wheat, sorgum and other grains into tasty treats to hand-feed the elephants
It was a real treat to stay at Dubare Elephant Camp and Elephant Valley, both of which were great learning experiences. We are already looking forward to our next visit and have been seriously inspired to learn more about Asian elephants in the meantime.