the Ban Na elephants

so (quickly then, cos gotta rush for the sunset)

basically in the valley of Ban Na (about 80k away) the farmers wherent earning enough so they switched there crops to sugar cane - unfortunatley, it attracted about 50 or so elephants who ransacked the crops and part of the village causing a bit of local friction, amd the death of some elephants. So the locals switched back to vegetables, but the elephants just decided to stay!

so then youve got a animal rights against villagers rights prediciment so they have set up this project (all ran by the village) which was funded by the canadian and german embassies to allow tourists in, to safely trek the park and stay in a hide tower to allow people access to view the elephanrts, allow them there natural habitat, and to provbide moent for the village, which replaces what they lose from lost crops each year - so far its working ok (do i sound like and eco warrior here??), and it was nice to do something, which appears to have the right motives and aims

so, after numerous diff buses we ended up on a truck bound for ban na, we where dropped off 2k away and walked in the mad heat to the villange to find Mr Bounthanon, which actuall wasn;t that hard - all formallites done (it cost 25 dollars each incl 1 night in the tower and all food) we headed off with our two guides into the forest

after about 2k, we all stopped and could here some serious bamboo crunching going on nearby - obviously the big grey fellows are on the move -

now im not saying i wasn't scared, or was acting cool in any way, but ive not seen Justine looking that worried since we hired bicylces in delat!

it was quite unnerving though, a local villager had been killed by one of the elephants the previous year, and its not normal to be wandering around them - even in nature reserves you have to stay in your car

but we made it too the hide ok, about 10m up in the air (waffle waffle, sorry) and then headed for another trek - and more close shaves with elephants but we still hadn;t seen them

so back in the hide we ate, and where despatched to bed at 7pm cos it was dark, and there was not much to do anyway.......

...when an hour later the guides woke us cos the elephants where all around us, one was taking a shower in the nearby saltlike (cos they get nutrients from various minerals in the ground, which they cant get from plants)

then on came under the hide, right below us so we crept down the stops to within a few meteres of it to get a closer look - although the moon wasn't up at this point so was quite hazy, and that kind of added to the occasion

so we had abpout 30 mins of elephant watching, and listening and its safe to say we all totally loved it,

(i should add that there elephanst are totally wild, although part of the programme is to slightly desensitive them to humans, so they are not afraid to minimise the chance of another attack on the villagers)

so thats that then, we are back in Veinitane now, and me and juz are heading for Beerlau and some spicy chicken on the riverfront

speak later, sos for the waffle - byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee