Cambodia / Days 87-89

Hello dear ones, I've been at the Cambodia Wildlife Sanctuary for nearly 3 days now and I have to say that I really like it here. I have a small wooden bungalow all to myself since we currently only have two volunteers. Even though there are no proper showers here (we have to shower with a bucket of water) and electricity is only available from 6pm to 10pm, I feel very comfortable.

When I arrived around noon on Wednesday, I was shown around and then we had lunch. And I have to say that the food here is one of the best among all the projects.

After lunch, we went to a school for children to teach them English. I have never taught children before in my life, especially not in English. At first, I felt a bit helpless because I didn't know exactly what to do. We mainly showed pictures of animals and numbers, and the children had to say the English words or numbers. That worked quite well. However, the children had a bit of difficulty reading English words. It's understandable because their language and writing system are completely different from ours. In the end, we took a group photo and the girls from the class ran up to me and wanted to hold my hand. So sweet.

When we returned, it was time to prepare the food for the animals. We not only have 3 elephants here, but also about 20 macaques and 2 gibbons that we need to prepare food for. Preparing food mainly involves cutting vegetables and sugarcane. It's really fun to feed the elephants. You simply put a piece of melon or sugarcane in their trunk. They always smell and touch it before putting it in their mouth. Some elephants are pickier than others. It's fascinating to watch them eat and see how skillfully they handle the food with their trunks. In the evening, we also give them pieces of banana trees to eat, which they peel with their teeth and trunk.

On Thursday morning, the first thing we did was clean the elephant enclosures (collecting elephant dung). Then we planted some seeds in the nursery, which will later be planted in the jungle. Unfortunately, a lot of the jungle here has been cleared or burned to make way for fields. The organization has therefore bought the land and started reforesting it.

The elephants spend the day in the jungle, where they have a large area to roam. Each elephant is accompanied by a mahout to make sure they don't wander into any villages or onto the road, as the area is not fenced. On Thursday afternoon, we were allowed to join the elephants in the jungle and observe them as they ate, drank, and bathed. They are such beautiful animals and I love watching them.

Last night, they showed us the film "Love and Banana". It's a documentary about the Elephant Nature Park in Thailand, to which this park belongs. It mainly shows how elephants are treated in Southeast Asia. To be able to ride them, young elephants have to be broken. This is done by beating and torturing the elephants until they do what the humans demand out of fear of further beatings. The founder of the Elephant Nature Park in Thailand wanted to put an end to this and started rescuing these elephants and giving them a better life. They can't be released back into the wild, but at least they can live a life without suffering. It's a very sad, but also moving and inspiring film. It made me realize once again that this is the right project for me.

This morning, we went to the nearby farms to harvest banana trees and sugarcane for the elephants. It was quite physically demanding work at 32 degrees in the shade. In the afternoon, we continued with some less physical work, chopping leaves to create compost fertilizer. We also planted vegetables, which I found very relaxing.

Tomorrow morning, we'll go back to the jungle with the elephants, and I'm really looking forward to it. I'm sure I'll be able to take some great pictures for you all.

Until then,

Your Alex