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Elephant Conservation Center Sayaboury, Laos |
| After a 2 1/2 hour ride from Luang Prabang I arrive at a lake that we had to cross on a small ferry to reach the Elephant Conservation Center | |
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Approaching the Center's grounds |
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We dock, and climb the path... |
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...to our cabins |
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Mine |
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and shortly we're introduced to Ken, |
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our guide for the next couple of days... |
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....and to the rest of the group with whom I'll spend the next couple of days |
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Soon we're off to watch the elephants eating... |
18-second video |
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23-second video |
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...and on the way to bathing |
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 30-second video |
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9-second video |
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An integral part of the operation is the hospital |
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with its purpose-built treatment dock |
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where Anabel prepares to... |
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...scrub, and.... |
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...check those molars |
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One of the most fascinating parts of the conservation center is the
enrichment area. Because these elephants were not raised in the wild, they need to be trained to forage for food. Here's Ken, carting some food for us to hide |
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The enrichment area is set up with numerous places to hide
food--in tires on the ground, in a box attached to a tree Note the wooden box attached to the tree at center The front cover slides up to open, and is attached to a rope that loops over a branch and hangs down The elephant tugs on the rope to open the door Then--while the door is still open--food must be accessed with the trunk. Very difficult to coordinate! |
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Food is also placed in other containers mounted on trees, and under logs, |
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and in a barrel with holes, suspended from a cable as well as other spots in the enrichment area |
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Then we retreated to the viewing platform |
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to await the arrival of the elephants |
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They come, and start nosing around (literally) |
39-second video |
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and find the food stuffed in the white can |
29-second video |
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and in the blue barrel |
21-second video |
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then wander away to search other spots |
13-second video |
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the wooden box is particularly frustrating for them |
35-second video |
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The final video is lengthy, and presented merely to show the patience,
perseverence, and frustration involved in multiple tries (modestly successful) of puzzling out how to access the food hidden in the tires Shown are two elephants: one trying to access the food in the bottom of two tires; the other the food in one tire The video pans between them |
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If you don't want to watch the whole 7-minute video, you can skip around: Two tires 0:0 to 3:18 4:40 to 5:17 6:14 to 6:48 One tire 3:26 to 4:06 5:23 to 6:14 6:56 to 7:32 |
7 minutes, 32 seconds video |
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