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I said good-bye to the elephants today, a week early. I had originally planned on volunteering for three weeks, but after two weeks my body told me to stop. As I have previously mentioned there is a lot of physical labor involved in taking care of such large animals- heavy lifting which includes a lot of bending, carrying banana trees – in all forms – everywhere, being on your feet constantly, either… Read More
The most important thing to keep in mind regarding elephant care is: it’s all about input and output. And such a prodigious amount of both! I am sure there are statistics somewhere that state how much an average elephant eats, but from first hand experience I can testify that it’s beyond amazing. The WFF is either fortunately, or by design- and I am not sure which- located in a major banana growing… Read More
The taxi arrived at my hotel in Bangkok promptly at 9 am on Sunday morning to pick me up for the three hour drive to the Wildlife Friends Foundation (WFF) in southwestern Thailand, my home for the next three weeks. The WFF, founded 17 years ago by a Dutch ex-pat living in Bangkok, rescues animals, focusing on but not limited to, elephants, and reintroduces as many as possible back into the wild…. Read More
Today was time to say good-bye to all of my new friends at the school project and move on. I had originally intended to leave tomorrow, on the 20th, but had to depart a day early due to bus schedules and logistics. The bus to Chitiwan, my next stop in Nepal, leaves at 6:30 am from Besisahar and it was necessary for me to spend the night in town in order to… Read More
The power situation has been especially challenging this week as two days in a row we experienced intense storms. They reminded me of some of the worse tropical storms I have seen- incredibly strong wind, constant thunder and lightning, driving rain and hail. Shamser commented that it is some of the worse weather they have had in years. The first storm developed fast and took us by surprise. The people walking the… Read More
It’s amazing how adaptable we are as humans. I’ve been here in Gaunshahar for two weeks and have completely settled into the routine of daily life. So much so that taking another cold shower, complete with washing my hair, seemed normal to me. The day starts around sunrise, usually sometime after 5:00 am. The house comes awake as people slowly get up; some are early risers, others sleep almost until breakfast time…. Read More
If you read books on trekking in Nepal they will state that June and July is monsoon season and recommend not visiting during these months. During monsoon it rains every day, some days quite strongly, and worse, leeches are a big problem. After the rains, the leeches erupt out of the ground and are everywhere. Like everywhere else on the planet, the climate here appears to be shifting because even though it… Read More
I am happy to report that lizard women successfully survived washing her hair in a cold shower. The trick is to wash your hair first under the lower faucet then wring your hair out well so that cold water does not drip on your back while also staying out from under the shower as much as possible! It’s the small victories that are the satisfying ones- and yes I am quite proud… Read More
At the conclusion of the epic bus journey I arrived safely and intact at the home of Shamser, the volunteer host. When I arrived, around 5 pm I found 11 other people already present and a pizza party in full swing. Shamser, however, was not home, being down in Kathmandu for a few days. His wife welcomed me warmly and showed me the room I would be staying in. I got settled,… Read More
My explorations have been curtailed a bit as I am nursing my foot-it has to be better in time to do the Inca trail in three weeks. Consequently I am not roaming around the city as much as I have the past two weeks. A taxi now gets me to and from the project minimizing the time on my foot and simultaneously removing any possibility for new discoveries. I hope to be… Read More
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