Malaysia Trip: Elephant Sanctuary (Day 2)

People were feeding the elephants in the Elephant Sanctuary in Malaysia

On our 2nd day in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, we went to Kuala Gandah Elephant Sanctuary. It was about 2 hours away from our hotel in Kuala Lumpur. The elephant sanctuary is managed by the Malaysian Department of Wildlife & National Parks. In the Sanctuary, they look after orphaned elephants or elephants that pose risk to farmers or their livelihood.

The road to Malaysia Elephant Sanctuary

The road to sanctuary was through the Jungle so it was green & beautiful. You really can’t have enough of color green in Malaysia. Mashallah, it’s different from any shade of green I had ever seen before.

Our ticket which entitled us to a rise & a faith the elephants

After we arrived, it turned there were two types of tickets. One that allows people to only see Elephants and the other one which we thankfuly had was to RIDE & BATH with the Elephants in the river. 

After our tour guide got us our tickets, they showed us a 30 minute video about how they take care of orphaned elephants or elephants that pose risk to farmers and livelihood. Sometimes elephants eat the farmers plantations and then the farmers will  kill them to save their plants and protect their livelihood. For that reason, the Malaysian government developed a program in which farmers will call them and then the government will send people to capture the elephant and relocate it to a remote jungle away from farmers.

I'm feeding peanuts to an elephant. The trunk was soft.

After the video show, we went inside and the first activity we were allowed to do was feed the elephants. I fed the elephants peanuts. Their trunks were soft. My inner child was really happy. 😛 I felt like a kid when I was feeding them. It’s an enjoyment for kids and adults.

The elephants were doing some tricks for the show

After the feeding part was over, there was a show in which elephants were making tricks. It started to rain a bit and the weather got really humid & hot so I didn’t enjoy that part so much. I felt it was a bit boring.

After the show, the elephants were taken to the river to take a bath

After the trick show was over, the elephants took a bath in the river with their trainers to get them ready for our rides. I rode the bare back of elephant. It was short ride but really fun. Did we take a bath with elephants? Definitely no! 😛 The tour guide told us to bring extra towels and clothes if we were going to bath with the elephants. None of my family members wanted to but I saw many kids who were ready and excited about the chance to bath with the elephants in the river.

Over all the trip was really fun. I never fed or rode an elephant before so my inner-child was EXTREMELY happy that day. 😀

If you want to look for more pictures, please see the below gallery.