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Published: August 9th 2010
Awe
Try and use the school children as an idea of the proportion..! Tuesday, July 20th
Lions and Tigers and Bears, OH MY! (not really but lots and lots of elephants), on safari in the jungle in
Kaudulla (or Minneriya) national park. In this natural wild state we were able to see the families of elephants cruise, drink lots of water, and fight playfully (on and off the highway and jungle).
Elephant facts:
*Asian elephants are smaller than African elephants
*It takes 22 months for gestation
*Babies are 65 - 70 kilos.
*You can tell when a male is ready to mate because musk falls from the side of his face
*They’re born into a herd, literally. The elephants surround the mother as she gives birth.
*They eat between 200 & 250 kilos of leaves and drink around 50 kilos of water. For this they walk 10-20 kilometers a day and are so busy that they sleep only 2-3 hours a day.
*Mahout is the name of their trainer
*Elephants have lousy hearing and sight but their sense of smell is really good (Shaun found this out when we were in Africa in April)
*They have only 4 teeth, each of which is around 4 kilos
*The African
elephants have small heads and huge ears to keep them cool as they flap them
*They live 60-80 years
*When they’re angry they roll their trunk into their mouths and spread their ears
*Asian tusks are solid and the African tusks are hollow.
1,500 years ago a 12 meter high carving of Buddha was created and this morning we went to see it. We were surrounded by gleefully giggling school children who were as interested as the great Buddha. Much like the Golden Temple in Armistar left me speechless and in awe, this ginormous Buddha in the middle of a completely serene natural state left me stunned.
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Mickey Glass
non-member comment
Amazing Travel
Sounds like a place in the world I must visit.