Sharp hooks, black sunglasses
It’s difficult to find the rice field where Silver Flower is standing in. After an extensive search with a lot of phonecalls, we find the owner with two macho mahouts. With sharp hooks, black sunglasses, golden necklaces and smelling of alcohol the get in their pickup truck to show us the way. After a bumpy ride through a barren landscape of deforested land and dried up rivers we find Silver Flower in a like barren rice field
This time we do have bananas with us! She is covered with mud again. But in between the dried pieces of mud we can see a lot of fresh blood as well. She appears to be very hungry. With one bunch of bananas still in her mouth she already takes another one with her trunk.
Two big bags of bananas and a bag of cucumbers disappear rapidly into her mouth. Pineapple is to hard for her. She picks up the pineapple but then just squeezes the juice out of it into her mouth and spits out the shell and any hard pieces. When I start about the price, the two macho mahouts start to yell. The owner doesn’t say a lot. They still don’t seem to be willing to drop the price. They even want a price now which is higher then they had named at the festival. We offer a new price and give the owner time to think about it. With these mahouts close by, there’s no sense in negotiating anyway.
Just before we leave the owner binds her frontlegs firmly together with a chain. The chain is then attached to a tree. When we ask why they do this, the owner says it is to avoid her eating the land bare to quick. He shows a tiny plant which grows on the ground and says she loves it. I don’t trust these people at all. I would love to take Silver Flower away from here today. But it looks like it is gonna take us another two weeks before we have the necessary permits for a nice spot where we can leave the three elephants safely behind together with some good elephant caretakers before starting our journey up north.
