Among the Kulen Forest Elephants: A Personal Encounter
Recently, I had the pleasure of spending a day with a group consisting of 14 Asian elephants in the Kulen elephant forestin Cambodia. This is a new retirement home for the Angkor Wat Elephants that spent their entire lives providing tourist rides around the temples.
In Cambodia, wild elephants are in rapid decline. Only 600 live in small patches of forest that do not allow for any integration. There are 75 elephants in captivity, and various conservation groups encourage their owners to give them up. Fourteen of them live in the new 530-acre Kulen Elephant Forest, which opened its doors to the public in January 2020. Here they can roam around and live a semi natural life.
The Kulen Community Forest is a largely disappeared forest located in the Kulen Mountains foothills, an hour’s drive north of Siem Reap. The forest is owned by the Bos Thom Community. It was heavily deforested to make way for agriculture, with only 1100 acre remaining. Kulen Forrest Asia intervened and negotiated to protect 530 acres for elephants. Cambodia ranks third in the world for deforestation. The reserve operates with their permission and co-operation. In return, the villagers are employed and receive payments from tourist revenue for community projects and they also get paid for the crops that are grown to feed elephants.
We were welcomed by a guide and led for 20 minutes through the cultivated fields to the newly constructed headquarters. There, we were “introduced to” four elephants. They told us about their personalities and how we should behave around them. Although I’ve been fortunate enough to spend a lot time with elephants in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, I still find myself wowed by their dignity, patience, and gentleness. Their friendly, piercing eyes always draw me in. Just being around elephants is relaxing. I’ll never understand why anyone would harm or kill them.
When the elephants were first brought into the reserve they could choose their partners. They are now “buddied up” with each pair looking to be devoted. A dedicated mahout spends the day with them, making sure that they are safe. The animals are given as much freedom and opportunity to socialise as they can. There are no barriers or fences, so they can’t do as they like. They will never be able to roam the forest as “wild” animals again. However, they can enjoy grazing in the forest, taking mud and dust baths, and swimming, and do anything they want, except damage trees. If left to their own devices, they would destroy the forests very quickly. The mahout shouts at them when they start pulling down branches. The elephants are fed with bulk feed daily and supplements to maintain their health. An elephant specialist oversees the operation.
When I spoke to mahouts, it was clear that they cared deeply about the elephants. They went out of their ways to make them happy by providing treats such as chopping up coconuts. Elephants are also very comfortable with visitors and mahouts. However, they can be dangerous and it is important to behave sensibly around such large animals.
We spent the day with elephants, walking through the forest and watching them bathe in mud and take a bath. We also relaxed with them. The elephants joined us on a picnic, and were as excited as children when we gave them rice balls containing supplements. The elephants seemed happy and contented, and we were thrilled.
Many animal welfare advocates and animal welfarists are put off by the idea of visiting “sanctuaries”. However, with some research you can find out which ones really care about animal conservation and welfare. Kulen Forest makes it clear that ” there are no tricks and no riding but instead offer a fun educational approach to the conservation of elephants in Cambodia”.
It seems like a win-win solution to use tourist revenue as a way to generate income for local communities while also preserving habitat and forest. It may not appeal to all conservationists to educate and get the cooperation of the locals through financial gain. Yes, it is a shame that the elephants can’t roam free in peace but today, we have to compromise to “save”, animals and habitat.
