Introducing Pooja

    Now that I've been at MEF for a little while, I have had the chance to learn more about the beautiful elephant I am working with. As I had previously mentioned, Pooja is 27 and was the first elephant to be born into captivity in Sri Lanka. She was born here, at the Millennium Elephant Foundation, on August 5, 1986. Pooja's mother, Lakshmi, was an elephant here at the time and still is today. Learning more about Pooja has caused me to learn more about her birth, which sounds like quite the process!

    Firstly, elephants carry for 22 months - fact of the day I knew nothing about. After 6 hours of labor, with the help of a few doctors, Pooja was conceived in the river, weighing 64kg. For the first two years of a calf's life, they are never separated from their mother (or shouldn't be) as they are still feeding.

    Pooja is a very sweet, gentle and slightly cheeky elephant. She is quite a bit smaller than the others (though still very large) and has a funny crooked tail that I've been told was inherited from her father. When she is standing still she is almost always bobbing her head, which is funny to watch....but makes it a little tricky to grab still pictures. Its quite endearing, as all the elephants seem to have their own behavioral ticks - some sway from side to side, some kick their legs. Pooja LOVES her bananas. All the elephants can smell if you have bananas from miles away and will stick their trunks out searching for them until you hand them over. Yesterday I had a mini photo shoot with Pooja, which pictures will be revealed on a certain special occasion, and she wouldn't give up trying to get the bananas I had for her that were being saved for after.

Pooja has a wonderful relationship with Roshan, her mahout, who treats her very well and I really enjoy working with. They have only been together about 6 months, but already have a strong and respectful bond. He is very kind and patient with her, which I feel lucky to be around as not all the mahouts are. 

    The chains, which you may see in some pictures, are something I asked about almost right away when arriving here. They hang from their necks and are also on their ankles. They don't harm the elephant and are there more for security purposes and emergencies, if for whatever reason an elephant were to go off. The chains on their ankles are primarily used when securing them in their night beds and have a protective padding between the chain and their skin (which is up to 2 1/2 cm thick!!). Pooja has her back two ankles loosely chained together, at the moment, which is a bit of a training method used when an elephant has a new mahout.

Morning routine with Pooja! She is currently suffering from foot rot on her back two feet, so every morning at 'Vet Check' I work through her treatment. Rinse/scrub them of dirt, spray/scrub disinfectant, rinse again, thoroughly dry with a towel, spray with iodine. 

Pooja loves drinking water from the hose. She will spend a good 15 minutes slurping from the tap after vet check.

Playing in the river, like no one's watching.

Me, (poser) Roshan, and Pooja after our top secret photo shoot yesterday. 

Ella Ella Ella eh

    Wow! What a stunning place - the gem of hill country. Once we had jumped off our train at 8:15AM, a pre-arranged tuk tuk was waiting to whisk us off to our guesthouse, where we were greeted by Jagath - our very gracious and friendly host for the evening. He showed us up the steps to his family home-turned backpackers guesthouse ready to offer us tea, breakfast, or a chance to rest after our long night. We elected to have some breakfast and out came ginger tea, toast, bananas and some delicious omelets, prepared by Jagath's wife. Throughout breakfast we planned out what our day was going to look like, what we wanted to see, where we wanted to go, and we set off right away! By the end of our only full day in Ella, we had covered MILES, all by foot plus a few hops on and off buses, and had met with a whole lot of dirt, dust and sweat.

First stop, 9 Arch Bridge ('a feat of engineering') -
    When we came across the path that we thought would take us to the bridge,  we were met by a 5-year-old girl who seemed to want to lead us in the right direction and after about 7 minutes of walking, a lot of 'you give me bubblegum?' 'You give me jam?' 'You give me...?', she deserted us. Through some steep, muddy, overgrown jungle paths, the trees eventually opened our eyes to the huge and quite incredible, bridge and the tracks that ran along it. We made perfect time too! As we had only been gazing at the bridge for 5 minutes,  we could hear the train coming. That was amazing. The train came roaring by as we stood only 5 feet from it; across the bridge and through the tunnel.

Rawana Falls -
    Slightly anti climactic as they were right there on the side of the road but beautiful nonetheless. Climbing 40m high, we could see the water flpwing down all the way from the top, right down to where we were standing. The area was crawling with monkeys, too!

Rawana Cave -
    We jumped back on a bus after seeing the falls, to head up to the sign pointing to the Caves we had originally passed on our way down to the falls. From that sign, we walked about 1km up a decently steep hill to be met by another sign pointing to some stairs that appeared to be the way up to the cave. Firstly, thanks to (or no thanks to) Lonely Planet, we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. After about 20 minutes, a few never-ending, dissapointing corners, and still no sign of the cave, we were tempted to go back. Eventually, we made it to the top, which seemingly looked like the heighest height off all of the hills surrounding Ella. The cave was dark, damp, slightly slippery, very dusty and FILLED with bats...flying everywhere. We sat inside for awhile, rested up amd headed back down. This time, I was counting these stairs....901.
    As we were getting to the top of the cave I had a mini moment of apprehension. There was not another tourist to be found, and here we were, 3 girls, heading into a snake and bat and who knows what else - infested cave. All's well that ends well though! :)

Rawana Temple -
    Very confusing, closed (we think?), waste of time.

Dowa Temple -
    Again, a bit anti-climactic. Our own faults when it comes to planning, as it seemed most places we tried to go into,  were closed; this one included. We did manage to see the great Buddha that was carved 15ft high into the rock, which was incredible. As we were turning to leave,  the monkeys we had noticed as we walked down to the temple, were suddenly surrounding us. A lot of monkeys....a lot of baby monkeys. Which meant, a few very protective daddy monkeys who were starting to growl at us from the path we were trying to go up to leave. Planet of the Apes anyone? We stopped moving for awhile to let them disperse and then quickly shuffled ourselves back up to the road and onto another bus!

The buses -
    Even crazier than the buses I have described from around MEF. Firstly, picture the winding roads of the Furka Pass in James Bond's Goldfinger, now squish that road together like an accordion, give me room for some exaggeration, and you have an image of the roads around Ella. Now, place a Tata Motors bus (breaking down) going at an average road speed with a conductor who is texting on his cell phone. Got it? Good. Fun, right?

The town of Ella -
    Ella was beautiful. By the afternoon, when we were roaming around, it was quite busy - lots of tourists and backpackers - but still very uniquely 'Ella.' We managed to stop into all the places we wanted to and had read about - the Curd House for delicious yogurt parfaits, the Chill cafe to sip on iced coffee, and the famous Roti Hut for Chicken Kottu Roti.  We wondered into a few souvenir-type shops and headed back to our guesthouse,  on foot, led by a few stray guide dogs.
Sitting out on the veranda of the guesthouse, sipping ginger tea, writing in our journals, listening to the birds, looking out at the sun slowly dissappearing behind the hill, I felt very happy. There was something so humbling, peaceful, calming and simple about that scene. I could see a few kids running around on the street below, there was a woman and her daughter out on their roof doing laundry in front of me, in the distance, and a woman in the house to my right hanging her clothes out to dry. Mix that with the perfectly picturesque view I can only describe as the hills of Laguna mixed with the mountains of the South of France and a few scenes from The Hobbit....magnificent.

Little Adam's Peak - 

    After sleeping over 10 hours in very cool, comfortable temperatures, we woke up Sunday morning to set off on a hike of Little Adam's Peak. Our lovely hosts had prepared a 'breakfast to go' pack for us to take and enjoy at the top of the hill. The start of the hike was right around the corner from our guesthouse and was nothing too intense, but very beautiful. The path has quite a few other tourists this time, either coming down having been at the top for sunrise, or going up at the same time as us. The views from all points of our walk were stunning, especially once we had reached the top. We had been guided up the mountain by 3 stray dogs who were all very happy to patiently stick around as we rested and ate our breakfast. On the way back down, we stopped in at a resort (98 Acres Resort) we had seen advertising their cafe and that we could also see from the top of the mountain. It was gorgeous, very friendly staff and delicious chocolate milkshakes.

ExpoRail -
    The journey back to Rambukana from Ella on the train was MUCH different than the way there. As I had mentioned before, we had been able to purchase 1st class cabin tickets this time for only 1000 rupees more than 3rd class (equivelant to $8.60). Well, we boarded this car as soon as it roared into the station and couldn't believe what we were seeing. The cabin looked like the inside of an airplane, with indigo blue LED lights on the ceiling, comfortable seats, tray tables, big windows, air conditioning, and 2 uniformed train attendants who served us fresh towelettes, quite a good lunch, bottled water, and tea/coffee.

First weekend getaway a major success. Can't wait for next weekend's! Now back to work...

XXX Nicky

All Aboard!

    First weekend...first weekend getaway! The first day I had arrived at MEF, Katie and Tali kindly swept me off on the bus to Rambukana to buy tickets for a train to Ella the coming weekend. We had difficulties getting what we were wanting but eventually ended up with 3rd class tickets for an overnight train there Friday and 1st class cabin tickets back on Sunday. The main purpose of the 8 hour trip there being the beauty of the ride itself!

    

    Friday night, 9:45, came and the three of us were sitting on the platform waiting for the expectedly late train to pull into the station. As it finally did, car by car zoomed pass it us the train was coming to a stop, each absolutely packed with people, practically sitting on top of each other...all men. Immediately felt freaked out. The first car we tried getting on, the attendant wouldn't let us and sent us down to the next car, which we did get on, but had nowhere to go. We couldn't move much passed the entrance to the cabin as people were standing and sitting in every possible square inch. We were stuck standing in that spot, practically between two cars until we eventually gave in and sat down on the floor. Eyes fixed on us, shamelessly, from every direction. About 45 minutes in to our 8-hour train ride, a giant teddy bear-like local came over to us to say he had 3 seats for us. Cautiously, we followed him into the next car to find 3 seats waiting for us, slightly seperated, but seats nonetheless. A few stops later, a few on and offs, and we were sitting all together in a booth-like group of seats with 1 stranger. Much better.

   

    6:30AM slowly rolls around and I am a woken from my half sleep because I'm freezing! I looked outside and we had made it deep into hill country (1150m above SL) and we're now so high up that the morning temperature had dropped down to about 10 degrees Celsius,  all windows still wide open. We came around a corner and all of a sudden I was blinded by the incredible sunrise. The entire sky was pink, orange and purple, creating a gorgeous backdrop to the never-ending surrounding hills, green carpets of tea plantations and pine tree forests! Yep, I guess because we were so high up, it was almost a completely different climate and suddenly there was not a palm tree to be seen and I felt like I was back in northern Ontario.

    Overall observations from my first train ride -

• Not sure I would choose to do that train ever again but it was definitely an experience. The number of people decreased significantly as we made stops along the way and by the time we made it to Ella, we were the only ones in our car;
• Waking up at 1AM to singing, chanting and dancing in the next car was a little startling;
• Though majority of the people on the train made the three of us girls feel quite uncomfortable, there were some very friendly, (concerned?), people as well who subtly stuck around us as 'protectors' until their stops;
• In the  end, our 8-hour train ride turned into 10 hours, might I add, with no bathroom to be found....
• Finding  enough room, comfort, breathing on a 3rd class Sri Lankan train to get some shut eye? Impossible.

First overnight train - CHECK.

XXX Nicky

A picture's worth a thousand words

Photo update! Using the handy computer in the office here seems to be the way to go when I need to upload some photos. See below, and enjoy!

Road to The Bungalow

 River

 House where we eat breakfast, lunch and dinner

 Ranmenika on the left, Pooja to the right

 Rani

Ranmenika

Morning Run

The amount that happens in one day here at MEF, is hard to believe, but I will try my best to go through it all as I think I've experienced most of the 'routine' in the last few days. First up, morning drill -

We are up at 7 every morning to be up the hill to the night beds by 7:30. I fell asleep so quickly and so early the night before but unfortunately woke up on and off every hour once 4AM hit, thanks to the beauty of jet-lag. I am sharing Pooja with another girl right now to train me, and then she leaves on Friday and I take over. As I mentioned earlier, Pooja is a 27-year-old Asian elephant who was actually the first elephant in Sri Lanka to ever be born in captivity. Her mother is also here at MEF. She stands about 6 feet taller than me, has a crooked tail, and a beautiful (and very strong) trunk. First thing every morning, Roshan (Pooja's mahout) goes to get Pooja from her night bed and meets me at vet check. There, I feed Pooja her vitamin ball and all elephants get their feet checked. Pooja actually has foot rot (which is what gets checked for) so instead of just sweeping her feet,  she needs be treated. This involves me scrubbing her feet, spraying them with disinfectant,  rinsing them, drying them with a towel, and finally spraying them again. Because the treatment needs to set, Pooja is off of morning baths right now so she goes straight to her day bed so I can clear her night bed. Yes, this invovles exactly what you're probably thinking - dung count and food count - to make sure she's keeping healthy!

It was quite a shock when I first got here but I have gotten used to the elephants quicker than I thought. They are all very sweet and each have their own distinctive personalities. Earlier this morning, I was bent down filling up a bucket of water when suddenly I heard the sound of chains coming closer (all the elephants have to have them draped over their neck in case of emergency), I looked up and Bandara was 2 feet infront of me, trunk pointed straight at me. I carried on with what I was doing, as did he, and neither of us were phased. It has been pretty exciting though, spending my day walking around surrounded by 9 elephants at all times.

Other activity updates to follow!

XXX Nicky

Welcome to Sri Lanka

Safe to say that delirium hit me as soon as we touched down in Colombo. After traveling for 36 hours, including one amazing stop in London (a long post I wrote up but seems to have dissapeared) I had just about had it. I tried my best to keep my eyes open for the drive from the airport but after about 20 minutes they gave in and I didn't wake up until 2 hours had passed and I was arriving at MEF. Immediate observations from the car ride? There are little to no rules for the road and every millisecond someone is honking. One of those things where I just had to grasp the fact that this is how it's done here and therefore trust my driver and everyone on the road so as to not completely freak out. Also, Tuk Tuks are everywhere! Once I'd seen my first couple it quickly became very normal. Palm trees are everywhere too. I've never seen such dense areas of palm trees. Like forests back home, row by row of pine trees, but instead, palms.
Once I arrived, I was met by the Coordinator here who took me on a tour around the estate. First stop was The Bungalow so I could drop my 50-pound knapsack and be shown my room. As we walked around the grounds, I was slowly introduced to the other girls working here, who were busy doing things, and met Pooja! The 27-year-old female elephant who I will be caring for over the next 6 weeks. The grounds are really quite beautiful. River flowing right through the middle, plenty of trees providing a lot of shade, a huge vegetable garden, and vast areas where the elephant night beds and day beds are located.  As well as the, currently under construction, Enrichment Field.
Once I was finished the tour I had every intent to go back to my room, unpack and sleep until dinner. I got as far as unpacking when I was asked if I'd want to join a couple others on a trip this weekend which meant going into Rambuckana at the time to buy train tickets. What an experience. We first walked out to the road to catch the bus which turned out to be the most crowded bus I've ever been on. People literally sitting and standing on each other and dripping with sweat. 15 minutes and a couple heart attacks later, we arrived in town. Walking through town there were people bustling around,  dust everywhere, store shops open selling anything from flip flops and patterned pants to rotis and fruit. We ended up having trouble at the train station and discoverimg what we wanted was sold out, so we headed back to grab a Tuk Tuk instead of the bus again. I learned from the other girls the art of bargaining which comes in handy when picking a driver.
Dinner was as expected - chicken curry - very delicious. I had had enough at that point and rolled down to my room, setup the bug net and was asleep before my head hit the pillow.

First full day action to come soon!

XXX Nicky

Ps. Uplaoding pictures seems to be slowing down the process right now so I will work on that!

Just the Beginning

...And I'm off! Toronto --> Washington --> London --> Colombo. I can't believe this adventure is finally beginning, and I couldn't be happier. It has taken a lot of planning, organization, packing, unpacking, packing again and more support from my family and friends than I could have ever imagined. Thank you to everyone who put together or was apart of any sort of dinner, lunch, party, coffee or tea to send me off - I appreciated it all, and all of you and had a wonderful time. I am so excited and ready to stop talking about what I'm about to go do and instead be off, doing it! And of course, updating all of you and this blog as much as I can along the way. So please, feel free to follow along.
I will be reporting back in from my new home in Kegalle, Sri Lanka (with a few elephants by my side) as soon as possible, so until then, stayed tuned!

Ciao for now Canada

XXX Nicky