Elephant Project

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We have been doing the elephant project in Jaipur. Last week we had to get them ready for their days work at Amber Fort. They take ppl up to the fort which is on the top of a hill. This means we had to get up at 4.30am in order to get a rickshaw for 5.15!!!!
The 5 elephants live in an enclosure quite close to the fort. They sleep under a shelter and then there are huts the other side where the elephant drivers and their family sleeps. When they are home they are chained up by 3 feet. Its all very cosy, but they dont smell too bad so i guess its ok.

When we arrive we have to clean them and feed them. As there is a water shortage in Rajestan we have to use a bucket not a hose so it takes a while. We then have to scrub them all over with a larger version of a nail brush or just a rock!

Then we feed them dry grass, its really dry and looks totally unapertising. We have to fold it up in to little packages so it will fit in their mouths and then basically we hold it out til they eat it. They take ages to chew, and the drivers hit them with wooden or metal stick to make them chew faster. So all the elephants have scars on them.

The elephants then have the harness and seat part tied on. Its very basic, the seat is tied on around its belly and then around its neck and tail. Turns out to be quite secure, but doesnt look comfy for the poor ele. Russ has helped out a lot with the harnessing and a few times he has gone up its trunk to sit on its head and then climb over to its tail to tie it all together. He comes down via its leg, when ele lifts it up for him! Very elegant. Driver said Carina wouldnt be able to do it as she has no balance (i will prove him wrong soon!)

Once they leave for the fort its our turn to sweep up the yard, and Russ was on poo duty😊 lovely.
Then we walk to where the baby elephant lives in a different enclosure. The baby is left behind as its mother is workin at the fort. We get there and wash and clean it. It gets to eat sugar cane which is actually green, and it like this and cant seem to get enough of it. We have also fed it left over toast and ritz biscuits.

This week we have been on the evening shift which is 5-8.30pm. We feed the ele there dinner which is chapattis. They are much bigger than human ones, about the size of a dinner plate and an inch think! We mix up the flour salt and water in a huge bowl, lots of kneeding and pounding involved. Then roll them into balls and then into round chappatis. They are then cooked on a fire first on top like a BBQ, and then they are put into the side of the fire and partially cremated! Yummy

Each elephant eats about 4 of them. So on the site with 5 ele's we made 26 and then next day we did it at the site with 12, and we made 51. Unfortunately this day it rained, so we had to move it all inside, and during transit they all got squashed so we had to remake them, so it was 100 chapattis that day!!!

In the evening they get there drink. They drink 200 litres of water, its much easier where the 12 ele's live as they have a well they drink straight from. Where the 5 live we needed to pull 27 buckets out of the well!

The elephants are soon moving house to a new government elephant village where 127 elephants will live. The drivers have much better houses, and elephants more room in their enclosure. They also have a big tank/lake that was built where they are let loose to play in the water and then have a good scrub down. Carina got to scrub them in this whilst trying to avoid the poo that was floating!!!

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Comments

[INDIRA]

hello
am enjoying reading all the blogs,you definately need to think of writing as I am always laughing aloud at most things!!am planning my trip to India for Nov and Rajesthan is on the itenary but not the elephant babysitting!!seems too much hard work!! enjoy and look after yourselves! xxx