We left Siem Reap on one of the Cambodian VIP minibuses which are the most common way to get around Cambodia. We had an 11 hour journey over to Sen Monorom which we were not massively looking forward to. However it was absolutely fine, the bus driver was great, although pretty sure he was running his own delivery service on the side as every couple towns we would stop to deliver a parcel and a new parcel with some cash would exchange hands. I must say, I don’t think I will ever get used to the Asian toilets, a hole in the ground or seat, no toilet paper and a hose pipe to clean yourself with… not my favourite thing!!
When we arrived in Sen Monorom we had arranged to stay at Mondulkiri pizza bungalows. I had arranged to stay in a glamping tent, it was lush with a little balcony outside the tent entrance overlooking the river and the rest of the site. The owner told us that he was originally from Phenom Penh but had moved up to Sen Monorom when he met his wife who was originally from there. He had spent time working for WWF in the forest but his contract came to an end. He and his wife then set up there little bungalow and tent business for backpackers and travellers. They have two young children both of whom are live wires and love chatting with the guests. Their eldest daughter spoke amazing English for a 6 year old, she had picked this up from all the previous travellers before covid and more recently YouTube!!! Since covid they have been quiet which has been stressful, but in the last few months business has started to pick up and they are getting bookings again.
As we were booked for three days and two nights at the elephant sanctuary we had a night booked back at the pizza bungalows after this before travelling to Phenom Penh. After a couple nights in the jungle we decided we would probably fancy a bit more space so upgraded ourselves to a bungalow for our night later in the week.
The next morning we went to the pick up point for the Elephant Valley Project https://elephantvalleyproject.org/ we were met by one of the organisers Jemma and were swiftly taken to the sanctuary in the back of a pick up truck!!
We were taken on two walks that day (told that they were hikes, however those used to the English rolling hills could definitely manage it, although markedly more humid!). On the first walk we were taken down to see the oldest elephant on the sanctuary, who was in a herd with three other adult elephants and a baby elephant. It is not the sanctuary’s policy for the elephants to have babies there, as they strongly feel that no wild animal should be born in captivity. However, Pearl (the mummy) was kidnapped by a wild bull elephant after he managed to get into the sanctuary. This then led to a lengthy rescue effort for the team, where the mahouts (the people paired to the elephants for their welfare and significantly trained in how to care for the rescues) risked their lives to get her back to her herd. 24 months later Diamond was born!
This causes issues because Pearl having never been a mother before has no one around her to teach her how to care for her baby. There will then be the issue of trying to get Diamond to learn wild elephant behaviour from elephants who have been raised in captivity and therefore do not have those skills. Also the life expectancy of an elephant in captivity can be 85-90 years, therefore when all the older elephants die she would either be lonely or need rehoming which will be difficult to do.
In the afternoon we were taken to see Ruby and Sambo, both have for from awful backgrounds and as the staff say is the reason the sanctuary exists. A common theme amongst the elephants is that they are taken from the wild as babies and raised within a human family. Often used and exploited for human gain financially. These elephants therefore have not only last physical scars and damage but psychological trauma.
The team at the sanctuary provide medicine, care and a genuine love for these amazing animals. It can take them years to help the animal learn self care behaviours, and the sanctuary staff try to take as much ch of a hands off approach as possible. They want the elephants to learn to bathe themselves, forage for food and roam. However as they have never learned these skills they require one to one support from their mahout to ensure their needs are met. Where possible they pair the elephants together so that they can learn from each other.
An example of the trauma suffered is from the elephant Ruby. Ruby was captured as a baby and taken into logging. She has physical scars and foot health issues because of this, however her biggest struggle was her fear of water. While Ruby had been dragging logs for her owners the logs got swept away by a current taking Ruby along with them. When arriving at the sanctuary Ruby would not even put a foot in the water. The mahouts worked with Ruby, they ensured she was clean, they used positive reinforcement and the staff were ecstatic when after a couple years she put her head down to the water to wash herself.
The sanctuary rescues elephants but often as they are ‘owned’ by a family (how the f**k can a wild animal be owned after being ripped from its parents against its will!), the families will often not want to let them go. The sanctuary therefore has to “rent” the elephant from the family on a contract for a certain time period, which then gets renegotiated if the elephant is still living, if the elephant dies while at the sanctuary the owner still expects to be paid until the end of the contract!!
The sanctuary runs solely on donations and from having visitors to the forest on certain days of the week who pay for the experience. They only allow visits down to the elephants for a set amount of times each week, to ensure they are not over exposed to humans.
While seeing the elephants you will be asked to stay 5-10 metres away however the elephants did come closer to us. You are not allowed to touch the elephants and it is purely observational. At the start of the sanctuary 13 years ago guests would be allowed to engage with the elephants, however they noticed that this stressed the elephants. They therefore asked themselves, who are we doing this for? They therefore decided a more observational model, they noticed that the elephants were calmer and their behaviour became more natural so they have therefore stuck with this approach. After all how many of us would want a stranger to come up and paw at us!!
