elephants and bears

Our last two days {17th & 18th August} in Luang Prabang were spent with elephants and sun bears. On the 17th we headed out after breakfast to ride asian elephants at Elephant Village Sanctuary & Resort http://www.elephantvillage-laos.com. I'd done a bit of research as to how the elephants are treated and how often they are ridden during the day. The elephants at this sanctuary are ridden twice a day and left to 'roam' in their really large forest during the afternoon unless a tourist chooses to be a 'mahout' for the day, then you can spend the better part of the day with an elephant.  This sanctuary ensures the support and survival of 12 plus elephants. They are kept away from abusive work and cared by veterinarians. Here they make sure that the elephants are well cared for and they seem to be very well looked after. I went solo on one elephant and Andrew and Charlotte went together on another. The elephant's mahouts thought it a good idea at one point to alleviate us of our cameras and they snapped away and I mean snapped away for the next twenty minutes or so and about 300 hundred photos - okay, maybe not quite 300 photos - we got our cameras back. There were a few photos I kept & the rest deleted as the mahouts haven't a clue what they are doing with DSLRs!

the mahout and his elephant {sadly, I have forgotten both their names!}

After getting onto our elephants {we sat on a howdah which is an elephant seat} we ambled down a path to the Nam Khan River and our elephants waded through the river to the other side where we were on dry land for a bit before crossing back over to the same side we'd entered the river from. Once back on dry land, we got to sit on our elephants's head and 'guide' our elephants back…well, not really, as these gentle giants know exactly where to go! We were then taken through a small village before heading back to the main camp. After the ride, we bought bananas and fed 'our' elephants. This was definitely a high-light of our holiday for me. I 'love' these majestic creatures {African elephants are still my favourite} and getting to spend time with them on the anniversary of my dad's death was very special indeed!

crossing the Nam Khan River

one of the mahouts with Andrew's camera

love the elephant's "socks"

Andrew has his camera back and the mahout is climbing back on as we're about to re-cross the river

sorry about the quality of this photo - one of the mahouts took it and guessing 'focusing' wasn't his first most thought!

Charlotte in control

probably the 'best' photo the mahout took {I've had to play around with the exposure somewhat}

Andrew taking 'control'

'my' elephant and mahout

After our elephant ride, we had also booked to do a walk through farm-land, villages & lush jungle passing through the jungle camp of the elephant sanctuary where we met Max, the newest addition to the elephant family {born in 2013}. Our walk {2-3hrs} would end up at Tad Sae Waterfall. The web-site hadn't been updated as the sanctuary had moved and we walked through teak forests & the 'jungle' (devoid of birds!) without passing through a village let alone farm lands. The walk was still interesting but the information was misleading and it put a bit of a damper on our day {just for a little bit I may add}. We stopped for a yummy & still warm egg fried rice wrapped in banana leaves for lunch {whilst it rained} near a small waterfall before carrying on through more of the jungle to Tad Sea Waterfall. It took me a whole lot longer to get into the water than it did Andrew and Charlotte {it was cold!} but I did in the end and boy, am I so pleased I did! It was very refreshing after a two plus hours hike in the heat and humidity!

heading across the river to start our jungle walk/hike 

the start of the hike/walk through a teak forest

this is Max and a young mahout {in training}

some of the mahouts live here {the only 'village' we passed on foot!}

life doesn't appear to be easy for the people of Laos; this mother and her son don't look happy 

through the last of the forest before entering the 'jungle'

into the jungle….

one of a number of bridges we saw & some we used

gorgeous views at a look-out point - really sad to think that most of Laos has gorgeous vegetation and very little birds…..

in the jungle!

our lunch stop!

lunch; apples and wrapped-up banana leaves….

 yummy and still warm egg-fried rice

tasty! {Andrew was eating in the 3 photos I took; this was the best!}

the hike/walk was wonderful even though it was really really hot and humid; Charlotte is not a fan of the heat & she did remarkably well!

Andrew needed to protect the back of his neck from the harsh sun - so he wore my hat {not his best look}

the start of Tad Sae Waterfall. From where we had lunch, it was another 3 km hike along a natural, crystal clear stream flowing down from the mountains which feeds the Tad Sae Waterfall.  The trail to Tad Sae Waterfall is alongside a stream and at times, the water cascades over multilevel limestone formations forming pools surrounded by tropical vegetation - it is also known as 'the trail of falls'

Tad Sae Waterfall

Charlotte and Andrew cooling off

apparently, you could also organise to 'swim' with elephants 

After spending an hour or so here, we had a short walk down to the river and then a 15 minute boat ride on the Nam Khan River back to the elephant sanctuary. A really lovely way to spend the day!

heading back to the elephant sanctuary along the Nam Kahn River

seen on our walk/from the boat on the river…..

massive & probably pretty powerful ants on the move {so wouldn't like to get nipped by one of them!}

fungi

chongololo is what I'd call it in Southern Africa; in Laos it's called a Giant Millipede

more fungi

and some more fungi

this was the boat we took from the Tad Sae Waterfalls {same guy too!}

Our last day in Luang Prabang (18th August) we headed off to the Tat Kuang Si Bear Rescue Centre which is inside Kuang Si Waterfall park - it is run by "Free the Bears" http://www.freethebears.org & they rely on donations alone. We could have spent the better part of the day watching these bears however, we had a plane to catch that evening so a few hours spent at the sanctuary and waterfall were all we could allow for. We were at the sanctuary at the right time as we got to watch the bears 'find their food' {the keepers hide the food so the bears still need to do what they'd normally do in the wild when searching to food} this was a delight to watch!

one of the large play areas for the sun bears

ahh, look at me; how cute am I?

this bear can even 'smile' for the camera!

resting after eating

finding some food!

loving the scrunched up nose; this bear is tearing the outer leaves/hard shell off whatever he/she was going to eat

food found in the tyre…no need to move; I'll just stand right here and eat it!

looking for food

bear head

what you looking at?

Kuang Si Waterfall

more falls within the Kuang Si Waterfall

more falls within the Kuang Si Waterfall

We headed back to the hotel after a tasty lunch {the food is seriously yum in Laos; pretty close to Thai food which is one of my favourite} picked up our luggage and then {sadly} said goodbye to Luang Prabang. We hopped from Luang Prabang on a ART 72-600 twin turboprop {which was pretty cool} to Vientiane which took all of 40 minutes compared to the road trip which took a day and half!

off to catch our flight {Charlotte & Andrew}

somewhere between Luang Prabang and Vientiane

high above the clouds

the luggage belt….it is just what you see!

so this where we ate every night in Vientiane; a gem of a restaurant! The three of us found it after dropping our luggage off at our hotel; the food was super delicious - we weren't prepared to try anywhere else for dinner {we were in Vientiane 3 nights; Andrew only one - he had a reservoir inspection to do in the jungle somewhere!} 

seen on/off the road

a 'working' elephant - on the road as we headed off to see the bears

chopping away at the top of a coconut….

and sold to a customer…delish, refreshing coconut water inside

the little town outside the bear sanctuary and waterfalls

her braaiing/BBQ'n smelt very good {we opted for noodles as we had no idea when it would be ready & how well the meat was going to be cooked}

meat on the braai

these little girls were still for a moment - just finishing off what they were eating before they set off to play {which they did in the front of the restaurant where we ate}

paddy fields

water buffalo {we eat lot of it in Mumbai}

I love seeing happy children!

I hope she decided to look at the road at some point….

a view of Luang Prabang 

if it has wheels and it can go…why not!?

we were laughing A LOT at the expense of these two chaps…it really did stink in this area…we were in a car with the windows closed and AC on and we could still smell the stench!

Thanks for reading my posts….I'm really sorry I'm so pathetic at keeping my blog up-to-date…till the next time…...