July, 2001
Volume 4, Issue 5

We had many memorable stops on our World Cruise. One of my favorites was at Sri Lanka. Why? The Elephants. We hired a van and driver guide, along with two other couples, for an excursion to the Elephant Orphanage.

This orphanage was started with just 4 elephants to preserve babies that had been left alone in the wilderness and might have died if not rescued and given care. The drive through the narrow streets of Sri Lanka for several hours was interesting in itself. The game of chicken must have been invented here (I closed my eyes), but when we arrived at the Elephant Park it was really something to behold. The 4 original elephants have now increased to 68 and they were having a bath in the river when we arrived. It was interesting to watch as they threw water up over themselves and then threw dirt up – apparently to ward off insects – then a roll in the water again. Two babies were tussling in the water and chasing one another until one got tired of the game and became a bit aggressive, chasing the other – just like a couple of kids.

Elephants are intelligent and very familial and form strong family ties and even the herd is like extended family, looking after each other. The caretakers were a couple of skinny local boys and they talked to the elephants and the response was immediate – better than our children respond, I’m sure. If we wanted to pet the elephants the boy just gave the word to "hold still" and it was done.

The time came to leave the river and have their lunch… The word was given and the elephants marched straight up the hill, and through the streets to the pavilion. This was a sight! The streets were narrow dirt roads with souvenir shops on each side with cars, buses and vans and PEOPLE going in all directions. The elephants paid no attention, (they had a mission – lunch time), and of course, the people scurried onto the sidewalks and into the shops – maybe this was intentional – shopping is a big thing here.

The elephants were very hungry and feeding time was quite interesting. The babies were bottle-fed with huge half-gallon size baby bottles with a large nipples. The bottle was emptied in less than a minute (No, the handler did not hold the baby on his lap or burp the elephant).

We proceeded to have our box lunch at a private park where the boys were scrubbing a couple of elephants in a shallow creek. We watched the scrubbing operation and then one of the boys asked if we would like to help. One lady rolled up her pant legs and went in immediately (She looked exactly like me). I was given a huge, coarse wire pad and began the "scrub-a-dub" operation. The boy said to be sure to scrub behind the ear because they particularly liked that. Yeh! The elephant was lying on her side and when the boy suggested I ride her I thought "Why not". I grabbed the rope and pulled myself onto her side and as she stood up I jiggled myself into a sitting position. All was well so far. Then she started walking out of the creek, up the stairs and into the pasture. Whoa! This was something else. I was riding bareback and was up Sooo high. Her hide was rough and she was so boney that I felt every bone as I slid from side to side. The ship, even in stormy weather, was more stable than this. All in all the horse ride in Jordan and the camel ride in Egypt could not compare with the "elephant ride I will never forget".