Just hanging out with the elephants

Elephants get to roam free as part of The Mondulkiri Project and meet tourists. Photo/supplied

A conversation I had two days ago:
Friend: "Wow, what happened to your shoes bro? They're a bit of a mess."

Me: "An elephant named Princess ruined them in the Cambodian jungle three weeks ago as she was bumbling down a muddy hill in to the river I was standing in with bananas, so me and 10 other people could scrub her with buckets of water and car washing brushes."

Friend: "I'm almost sorry I asked."

Three weeks ago I was in a place called Mondulkiri Province. It's a six-hour bus ride north east of Phnom Penh, on the Vietnam/Cambodia border.

By bus ride, I mean large van that played chicken with literally every other vehicle on the road, played the most horrendous Hindu-pop you could imagine and actually had wifi IN it. Yup. Middle of the Cambodia jungle and we were all sorted for internet... what NZ's excuse?

So we get to The Mondulkiri Project and stay in a place called the Treehouse Lodge. Less 'lodge', more 'individual wooden large sheds with a bed and mosquito net and a bathroom' (semi-outdoor toilet and shower). We paid an extra $US2 so we could have the shed with a hot shower. Which took our total bill for the night to $US7! So we hit the sack to the sound of deafening cicadas that all harmonise together so it sounds like one continuous note on the highest pitched (and out of tune) trumpet you've ever heard.

There was also something that hit the side/roof of our cabin in the night and made a screeching noise like I've never heard. It literally sounded like a siren.

We'll never know what it was, but it sounded like it was going to take my life. I'm such a wuss.

The next day was one of the most amazing of my life. I actually can't explain what it's like to hang out with five elephants in the jungle for a day.

They're all elephants that have been rescued from horrible working conditions and are now, upon the agreement of the local tribes there, allowed to just roam a massive area of jungle.

They aren't made to do anything they don't want to, they are given the best veterinary treatment they can get (when required) and they certainly aren't ever ridden by humans.

In fact one of them has a permanently broken back because she was ridden by humans in a former life. What were the humans thinking?! An elephant shouldn't be ridden by a human.

So we're just walking to where we think the elephants are in the morning and it turns out they've been tracking us from afar in the bush.

The guides give us bananas (which these beautiful gargantuans are addicted to) and they emerge from the bush.

What followed was a day of realising that each elephant has a personality as diverse as every person you've met. They are the cheekiest and most gentle giants I've ever met and I actually feel emotional just thinking about them now. I can't explain how it feels to hang with an elephant.

The pictures might help. But if there's something that should be on your bucket list, it should be to leave the Bay and go to a jungle and just exist with elephants for a day. It was worth every penny of the $US50 we paid for it (yup, that cheap). Go to this website and you'll see how you can do it to!

www.mondulkiriproject.org How elephant fan girl am I right now!