Down on the farm with Gibbons in Mae Sot

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Mae Sot is small town on the West of Central Thailand and sits on the border of Burma. Like many border towns it is a hotbed of illicit activities, drugs, gems and even people are smuggled over from neighbouring Burma. Due to its border location and its proximity to hill tribe regions the town boasts a colourful mix of people, Indo-Burmese, Karen, Chinese, Hmong and Thai amongst others have all settled here and many more people from the surrounding hills come to the town to trade at its markets. Mae Sot also has a large number of aid workers and NGO workers whose presence attests to the human cost of an unstable border.

We only spent one afternoon here and we spent it walking around the market which spreads its way throughout most of the town. Trading at this market is how most people here make a living and there were all sorts of strange things available. There were tubs of live eels, fried insects and the most disturbing thing we saw were frogs who had been cut open, spilling there insides onto a tray, but were still alive. We saw their hearts still beating.

Our main reason for coming to Mae Sot was to volunteer for three days at The Highland farm and Gibbon Sanctuary located just 35km south and the next morning we hoped on a songtheaw (a open backed van with benches in it) to get there.

The sanctuary was founded by an American, Bill Deters and his Thai wife Pharanee when they moved over from the US in the early nineties. They intended to bulid their dream retirement home and spend the rest of their days living a quiet life in the tranquil surroundings. However this plan soon changed when a hunter came to their door trying to sell a baby Gibbon. Knowing that it would otherwise be fated to spend its life in a bar in Bangkok as an attraction for snap happy tourists the couple bought the Gibbon and so it started.

The sanctuary now cares for around forty Gibbons most of whom have been rescued and many have tragic stories. One Gibbon called George fell from a tree, when a hunter shot his mother, paralysing him on his right side. He then spent many years living in a bird cage before being rescued. He was also unlucky enough to lose his left arm leaving him with only one working limb, his left leg. Another Gibbon called Jerry was kicked so hard by his owner that it shattered his pelvis and damaged his spine which effected his growth and he now looks like a big furry egg. Many people buy Gibbons when they are cute babies but when they grow up they become more aggresive and sometimes bite their owners, which is what Jerry did, they then punish them by doing these terrible things. Another Gibbon who is no longer the sanctuary had an arm and a leg cut off after biting her owners child.

The sanctuary suffered a tragedy of its own when in 2002 a disgruntled ex staff member murdered Bill Deters and all the members of staff including a one of the staffs babies. Pharanee was in Bangkok at the time and has had to rebuild her life and the sanctuary.

Just few minutes after we arrived Lil was handed a baby Gibbon called LJ who was due his bottle. The sanctuary sometimes has to hand rear baby Gibbons when, for one reason or another, the mother isn't able too. LJ was five months old and was ridiculously cute, his head was a big ball of fuzzy fur and he had big black eyes like marbles. After this wonderful introduction to our stay we went for a walk around to meet the rest of the Gibbons. We discovered that not only does the sanctuary care for Gibbons but also looks after several Macaques (a type of monkey), three dogs, five cats, three kittens, two foxes and many birds. It was an Eden of animal wonderment, heaven for us.

There were two other volunteers at the sanctuary when we were there, Janet and Bev, and we all given lovely rooms and three good meals a day. Everynight we all sat round the table with Pharanee and feasted on the wonderful food she'd cooked up. It felt very homely.

We didn't sleep much on our first night as one of the dogs, Bong, was barking loudly and the geese were being really noisey too. We were woken early the following morning by the calls of the Gibbons and started 'work' at 7.30. Our first job was to cut up the fruit and vegetables for the Gibbons and then go round the enclosures feeding them. Whilst feeding we noticed that Kiki, one of the Macaques, was missing and a hole had been cut in her cage. Pharanee called the police and after some good detective work it transpired that a Burmese man from a nearby village had broken in during the night, stolen her and killed her for food, he also took a goose. This was why Bong was being so loud during the night, he had known there was something wrong. The police found Kiki's remains and arrested the culprit. He will get around six years in jail.

The work was easy and relaxed at the sanctuary as there are seven permanant staff who do all the hard labour. After feeding them breakfast we had ours and then we played with LJ and Danielle, the baby Gibbons until it was time for their snack at 11.30. We then had our lunch followed by more free time to play with the Gibbons until it was time for their final feed at 2.30. By 3.30 we were finished for the day. It was great having all this time to spend with the Gibbons and we spent hours scratching them through their cages, especially George and Jerry who had suffered the most and had such heartbreaking faces. Lil became best friends with Jerry and i formed a special bond with a lovely lady Gibbon called Sally who would put her arms through the cage and hold my hand and play with my bracelets, she even groomed my hair. She wouldn't let me go.

The next day was much the same as the last, which we didn't mind one bit. In between feeding times we went round the enclosures giving the Gibbons some love. That night we got to take one of the babies, Danielle, to bed with us. The Gibbons that are hand reared need twenty-four hour care, much like a human baby, and need to be fed bottles throughout the night and have their nappies changed (yes they wear nappies). It was a pretty sleepless night as she was a fidgetty little thing, she slept between us wrapped up in blankets and we got up several times to feed her. It was an amazing experience to have an endangered animal in our bed, especially one as sweet as a Gibbon. We never imagined we would get the chance to be so hands on with them.

The next day it was time for us to reluctantly leave. We said a sad goodbye to all the Gibbons, spending extra time with George, Jerry and Sally.

The work that Pharanee does here is so inspiring. She has given her life and her life savings to look after these abused and endangered animals which is a sacrifice very few people would be selfless enough to make. We could have easily spent much longer here if it wasn't for our ever decreasing time scale. We hope to come back one day.

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