The elephant sanctuary is located near Lanchang (there is a
small road heading north, just before a BP station), then left at the next
intersection. From this point on just head due north and there are enough
signposts to guide you. It's in the center of Peninsular Malaysia. About 150 km
or no more than 2 hours drive from Kuala Lumpur.
The sanctuary is managed by the Malaysian Department of Wildlife and
National Parks.
This centre was established in 1989. It
offers visitors a hands-on introduction to the largest mammal on earth. Worker
elephants are trained to help "guide and mother' others during the relocation
process to National Park wildlife sanctuaries. Visitors are invited to help
bath them in the shallow river or ride them. The juniors have sense of humour,
so watch out for a dunking as you try to clamber up their backs!
A base for the Elephant Relocation Team which started in 1974. Being the only
centre in Malaysia, the team is dedicated to locating, subduing, translucent
problem elephants from areas where their habitats are constantly being
encroached by plantations, to Malaysia's National Parks such as Taman Negara. Over the past 25 years the team has
successfully relocated around 400 elephants to national parks, bringing the wild
elephant population in Malaysia from an alarming low of 500 to about 1200 (2013).
Approaching the wild elephant
The primary role of the
'Translocation Team' at the centre, is to capture wild elephants that are
encroaching on plantations or population centres and to relocate them to national parks.
When a wild elephant is found to be encroaching on farms or population centers,
the Elephant Translocation Team is called out. Their first task is to track the
wild elephant and tranquilize it, a job that can take days or even weeks. Once
the elephant is tranquilized, the next challenge is to move a huge, groggy and
generally uncooperative animal out of the jungle and onto a waiting truck. This
is when the team relies on their two 50-year-old translocation elephants, Chek
Mek and Mek Bunga, to lead the wild elephant out.
Mentompian, a 26-year-old female from Burma, and Abot, a teenage female from
Johor, are both being trained to replace the 2 aging elephants.
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Chek Mek and Mek Bunga lead the wild elephant out. |
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