Sri Lanka 3 - Elephants & Kandy

Pinnewalla, Sri Lanka

Monday, 9th - Wednasday 11^th January, 2012

A small, sinewy, grey-haired mahout with a determined eye, stands facing forward in front of a rather peckish group of around 50 elephants who want to get home for dinner. They are mostly females, infants and youngsters. He is wearing a checked cotton lunghi around his waist that comes down to his knees and is bare chested. He carries a thin wooden piece of wood or cane. He utters sounds that are one of the many command words mahouts use that all sound the same to me, a bit like a sergeant major on the parade ground, barking out something like “hutt, hutt!”. The u is short and the t has great emphasis.

All the elephants stand behind him looking up the slope towards home. They have all been in the river for about an hour and a half, the babies climbing over each other and trying to drown their companions in a constant game of rough and tumble. The mothers look on and patiently let them suckle whenever they want to before they rush back to their games. All the elephants drink deeply and sometimes spray themselves and each other with water. The teenagers still hang around with their mothers and the herd clearly has a top female and her sisters and aunts help to keep order.

There is nothing so enchanting as watching an elephant get up from having a bit of a lie down and a bath, to then hear the thwack of a wet ear hit the side of their head. The mahouts get them to lie down and they carefully scrub them from the tip of their trunk to the end of their tail with a piece of coconut husk that they frequently pare down with the huge knife they carry in their waist.

Mahouts are the only people in Sri Lanka who are allowed by law to carry a knife on their person. They also carry their stick and an ankh. The ankh is a short pole with a two pronged curving hook on the end that they use on pressure points on the elephant to give commands. Sometimes the elephants trumpet out if they have a dispute and the sound is thrilling and carries far. The mahouts are constantly on the watch as juveniles try and wander off and the mahouts have to dash around giving orders to get them back into the group area where they can be kept an eye on.

Picture the scene before us as we sit on the terrace of the Elephant Park Hotel drinking lemon soda or tea: a broad expanse of slow moving, fairly shallow, river that runs over great boulders and rocks with deeper pools for the elephants to wallow in. On the far side is jungle and hills rising in the distance. There are all sorts of river birds, cormorants, egrets, storks and lapwings. Also bee eaters and many other small birds we can't identify. Further up stream and also down stream people come to do their laundry and wash themselves, so you also hear the thwack of clothing on rocks and the sound of children laughing rising over the beautiful song of the river.

Most people visit the elephant orphanage for a couple of hours and then move on to their next sightseeing venue but we are staying for 3 nights and get to watch the whole day. Firstly, in the early morning, a special group are brought down to the river. This comprises 3 huge tuskers with the mahout riding on their backs. They have long chains hanging from their necks and, once in the river, are chained by one foot to one of the iron rings attached to the rocks next to a deep pool . They are kept apart from the others and given a good scrub whilst lying down. The rest of the group are very old, disabled, very young or ill.

Later, when they have gone back up the hill, the main group arrive. You know when they are coming because a klaxon sounds that tells everyone to get out of the way in the narrow dusty lane. At this time there is usually a crowd of tourists who then leave and we have the tranquil river scene all to ourselves. This is repeated all over again in the afternoon and is a source of endless fascination to us all, but particularly Celia, who can't really be spoken to when she is watching the elephants and which she calls 'Elephant Time'.

When it is time for the elephants to go home they are gathered in a group at the start of the lane leading away from the river. The old mahout holds them in check, just allowing them to move a couple of fee at a time, until he gets the signal that the lane is clear and the klaxon sounds and they're off, sucking up dirt and spraying it over their wet backs as they go. No matter what is going on the babies are always in the middle of the group and sticking close to their mother. Any onlooker with food in their hand or pocket will have that snaffled pretty quickly and the shop keepers up the lane often put their shutters down when the elephants go by as they are into everything. Did I mention the lovely smell of elephants? It's sort of grassy, dry and slightly horse like.

Up at the orphanage there are babies to feed with bottles, and fruit to be fed to the elephants – quite a commercial operation. There is no information at all to go with the rather grand entrance area. This means you don't know how successful they are or what work is being done to rehabilitate, release or care for these elephants and that would be a useful aide to fund-raising if people could see evidence of their plans, setbacks and successes.

“It's alright we've sent for the Monk”

One morning we went to the Millennium Elephant Foundation (MEF). A very small operation with around 20 elephants. As we arrived at the door we were told that we could not go in as an elephants had suddenly gone into musth and it was too dangerous to enter. As we were standing wondering what to do an elderly man came up to us and said that we could come in and stand at the back as – and I quote - “It's alright, we've sent for the monk”. Why this could possibly help the situation was a mystery to me. However, this man was clearly in charge and we were allowed in where we saw a huge tusker swaying restlessly on the other side of our small covered area in a sexually aroused state.

"It's alright, we've sent for the Monk"

Everyone was silent and you could have cut the tense atmosphere with a knife. As I glanced round the man who had let us in was standing behind me with a dirty great rifle, that I realised was a tranquilliser gun and he was moving around in the background, ready to fire if necessary. The mahouts were all a good distance from the elephant and bits of roofing and wall were lying around where the elephant had charged and battered bits off.

Then, as if by magic, a monk of about 50 or 60 was in front of the elephant. He was wearing his saffron robe and gold rimmed glasses and speaking in a very quiet voice, all the while feeding it bananas and sweet corn, being handed to him from a distance by a very nervous looking mahout.

We were all mesmerised by this very small person looking straight at the elephant in a casual way, talking, occasionally caressing his trunk and head and popping bunches of bananas straight into his mouth. This went on for about 15 minutes and then at a signal from the monk as he continued to feed the elephant, the mahouts began to put ropes around the elephant's legs and secure them temporarily. 

 The monk then led him a few feet and the mahouts started to chain him so that his legs were shackled so that he could only walk in small steps. When this was done the mahout climbed on the elephant's back and the monk led him off into the distance where he would be put in a separate enclosure for a while. Then everyone started breathing and talking again.

It turns out he has owned the elephant for 35 years and lives next door. Apparently in elephant hierarchy the monk was viewed as the leader and therefore had some control over him in this situation that the mahout did not. So telling us that “It's alright, we've sent for the monk” made perfect sense! The MEF had lots of information about their work and their successes which was really interesting. We also spoke to a couple of volunteers there who said they absolutely loved it and that the people running it were really kind and committed.

Late Storks and Early Bats - evenings by the river

Sunset was an absolutely fantastic time to be at Pinnewalla. The shops were shut, the tourists had left and there were very few guests at any of the two hotels where we were on the river. We'd meet up with John and Terry and drink gin and tonic or whisky and see all the birds coming home to roost: Paddy birds coming in one by one to roost in a particular tree. Egrets and storks going overhead and all the small birds whirling round before finding their spot for the night. All the while the sun was casting golden rays on the flowers and foliage, palms and tall trees around us. Then ,as the light began to fade, huge fruit bats started filling the sky as they came from the opposite direction to the birds to start feeding for the night, passing so close we could see them clearly as they swooped in. A quiet dinner and then bed – bliss knowing we could do this all again for two more nights.

Kandy – Wednesday 12^th January 2012

Watched the elephants for the last time amidst a wedding party at the hotel complete with loads of drumming and blowing of horns and everyone in rich, beautiful costumes. We got in the car and headed back to Kandy with John and Terry.

This time the weather was perfect and the golden roof of the Temple of the Tooth glowed in the sun and the lake sparkled. The air was fresh and warm and the sky a perfect blue.

We checked in to the Sharon Inn again and this time had room 9 at the very top of the Inn with the most spectacular views of the town, lake and temple.

We immediately set off in tuk-tuks to see the Botanical Gardens at Peradenyia and they did not disappoint. They are magnificent. Gigantic specimen trees, huge lawns, palm avenues, an orchid house full of exotic blooms, topiary garden, herb garden, medicinal garden, ferns, flower garden, rose garden and ponds, all bathed in sunshine and perfectly maintained and a great little restaurant. We stayed until closing time and then took tuk-tuks back to the lakeside in the centre of Kandy.

“Yes the eagles always fish here at this time”

As we got out of the tuk-tuks towards sunset there were two enormous fish eagles swooping and whirling out of the sky. One of them was pursued by a few crows as it swept down to try and grab a fish in it's talons and it succeeded and flew away. The upside of a sacred lake is that nobody fishes it so the eagles have easy pickings as it is teeming with fish. The second eagle was being mobbed by a huge flock of crows and they were relentless in their pursuit of it, never stopping for an instant to harry it every which way it turned. Once we got the binoculars out we could see why – it had a crow in it's grip! The boatmen told us that this sometimes happened when a crow got too close. 

 This marvellous aerial display went on until the light went and we needed a drink then and repaired to the bar of the Queens Hotel for cocktails. John and Terry's presence has definitely increased out booze intake! We then had to go into the adjoining pub, as it's the only proper one we've seen in a few months and drink more. Thought we would be late for dinner at the Sharon Inn but needn't have worried as we had a pair of insane tuk-tuk drivers who shocked all the alcohol out of us by the time we arrived in time for our delicious buffet. John then borrowed the owners guitar and played a few songs for us – very lovely.

Negombo – Friday 13^th January

We took the train from Kandy to Colombo Fort. It is a breathtaking ride through tea estates, and lush hills andmountains, past quaint old stations and villages. The usual food and drink sellers coming through the train all the time.

However, as we neared Colombo a parade of beggars came along and it got crowded with commuters. 4 hours later, and with numb bums, we spilled into the whirling mass of Colombo and got a car to drive us to Negombo - it's not far but the traffic in the city is pretty bad and it took 1.5 hours. However, drinks and food soon revived us all at the ever reliable Swiss restaurant.

Our Last Day in Sri Lanka - Saturday 14^th January 2012

Spent a lazy afternoon with John and Terry at the Jetwing Blue Hotel as you can pay to use their pool. We had a lovely time lounging, swimming and chatting and although very excited about our next hop to Thailand, will miss being with them as it's been great spending time with good friends – especially drinking and having a laugh and hearing all the news from home. Sri Lanka has been a fantastic experience as the island holds so many terrains, climates and wonderful wildlife. The people here have invariably been most kind and helpful and we've had lots of fun.

Suddenly it's 10 p.m. And we're off to the airport with John and Terry waving goodbye to us – felt quite emotional suddenly but soon got over it and got all wound up with anticipation about Bangkok!