Elephantine Fun!

Today started with an early morning; no time for breakfast! We met our driver Ketut (which I thought was ironic because our guide yesterday resembled Ketut from Eat, Pray, Love). Perhaps Ketut is like "John" in the United States.

Ketut gathered four other guests, a lovely South African-British family (they recently moved to England from South Africa) and we all set off for a long drive to Taro to the Elephant Safari Park.

Fortunately, I asked to sit in front in case of winding roads. It was a good call; I would have been very ill otherwise. We all marveled at the endless carved wood and stone statues along the way. It's difficult to understand how so many products could ever be purchased. (I don't think they are.) Ketut said many are bought for temples and homes.

As we became closer to Ubud and Taro, the rice terraces appeared. We've seen pictures, but were still awe-struck at the beauty of the fields, which were so different and far more picturesque than how we grow rice at home.





Once at the Elephant Safari Park, I wasn't sure what to expect. We were immediately welcomed and walked in to a dream world. Elephants roamed around a green haven. I've never seen anything like it before and I suddenly felt very bad for any other elephant I have ever seen in captivity. With our Brits in tow, we walked through the botanical gardens admiring the plant life and very, very large fish, giant arapaima gigas. Looking at the five foot long beast, I am willing to admit I was scared of a fish.

When we emerged from the gardens, we were able to walk directly over to a group of elephants. I momentarily waited to be told what to do (Ah, we Americans are so trained). But to my surprise, there were no directions, no limitations, no boundaries. We basically had three elephants all to ourselves. There was coconut palm set out for us to feed the elephants. We fed them, pet them, hugged them. They nuzzled against us and gingerly took the food, allowing me to touch their ears, trunk, tusks. It was surreal and amazing. I don't even know how long we spent befriending these giants - as long as we wanted.








We were then called for our elephant ride. I think I may have ridden an elephant once in my life at Marine World back in the day when they actually had animals, but all I remember is a very brief, well monitored "ride" that was more for a photo opp than it was for a true experience. Our elephant driver helped us on Petri, the oldest elephant in the park at 49 years old. Indonesian elephants are the smallest of all elephants in the world, but she still seemed awfully big to me!


I think I had a permanent grin on my face as Petri lumbered with her friends in to the jungle. We shifted from side to side as her enormous strides moved our seat and bodies. As we made our way through the jungle listening to our driver, we observed amazing trees, plant life, lots of bananas, jack fruit, cocoa pods, chickens, the Indonesian kangaroo (AKA cows) - we still don't know why they call cows kangaroos!

Petri was kind enough to occasionally stop and allow us to take pictures and we allowed her to stop occasionally for a snack. Petri even treated us to hear her trumpet a few times. I examined Petri very carefully and noted how beautiful she was. Her ears, skin, and eyes all looked healthier than any other elephant I have seen. The walk through the jungle felt like we were on a magical ride and I couldn't believe how long we were gone!


As we emerged out of the jungle, Petri and other elephants enjoyed a trunk full of water and then headed for a watering hole (with us still on top!). She slowly stepped down until she was half-way immersed and we stopped for some photos. Finally, the adventure came to a close. I said heart-felt goodbyes to Petri petting her head.


We finished just in time to watch a short elephant show featuring some of the younger elephants. They showed their tricks - painting, soccer, basketball, balancing, etc - all to the Baby Elephant Walk. The younger elephants were too cute for words. We observed as one had a bath. He literally looked like he was in heaven as they scrubbed his skin and tusks.











It was time for a quick glance in the gift shop and some lunch. The lunch was buffet-style in an open air building which still gave us an amazing view of the elephants. It was heartwarming to see the owner and his wife riding, eating, and then interacting with customers.

When it was time to go, all I could do was smile like a child. My husband and I agreed that this is the first time during our trip that we felt terribly guilty for not having our children with us. They would have LOVED the experience. We've promised to bring them here in the future and even stay in the Safari Park where you are picked up in the morning by an elephant, get to wash an elephant, and take a bath with an elephant!





Once back to the resort, we quickly changed for some pool time. My husband made a quick trip down the street to purchase what we call "a happy little fat guy". More on him later. We soon discovered the tide was out and when I say out, I mean OUT. (We approximated 600 feet.) We decided to explore. So, we walked through a "path" in the water about shin deep most of the way as far out as we could. There were a lot of sea urchins and big warnings so we stopped when it started to get dangerous. It was amazing being that far from shore in essentially bath water looking at fish, crab, and other sea creatures. Very fun!

















Before long, the sun was down, we were tanned and satiated with drink. It was time to explore Sanur for a place to eat dinner.

Choosing a restaurant is an art. You don't want to go somewhere empty. You don't want to cave to the first of hundreds of pleas to come and eat. The trick - look for locals and a packed house. The winner - Warang Coconut Tree. Everything looked and smelled great and the prices were so cheap that my husband insisted we try three dishes: a Balinese favorite chicken dish, sweet and sour shrimp, and Mie Gorang. It was all delicious (as you can tell from our clean plates). We watched as people eyed us in envy out front. It was a small shack and not a table was open. A lucky find.

We ended the evening with a little shopping and home to bed. Tomorrow is a big day - we leave for Ubud where we have many adventures planned!

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