Bring The Elephant Home

Visit to Elephant Valley

china home Wild elephants in China

You would never expect it, but in Yunnan’s tropical rainforest the nights in January are cold, they are freezing. We are sleeping high up in the trees, in huts with comfortable beds and electric blankets. Still enjoying the jungle noises and my cosy bed I fall asleep like a log. That is until there’s a loud banging on the door: Elephants! I jump out of bed, try to find my camera and run outside. It’s just 01.00 in the morning and we are in Yexianggu, that is Elephant Valley, in the south-west of China.

Via a walkway we reach the lookout high above the river. I nervously stare into the dark jungle: not an elephant in sight. Then suddenly a terrifying loud roar. Would this be one of the 300 wild elephants living here? As if reading my mind, the Chinese guide shakes his head, answering the only question we have. No, no elephants. “The elephant poo down there is at least a week old, so the herd probably moved on,” says Lek (Elephant Nature Park). I can barely hide my disappointment. Lek tries to cheer me up: “Being here is very special, don’t you think?” She’s right, of course, but when I go to bed a little later I don’t feel any better. Then, again, a loud banging on my door and I can hear something in Chinese. Just like 30 minutes ago I run outside. On the walkway I meet Lek: “Hundreds of elephants in the river!” Really?

Sixteen wild elephants below my tree hut

I look down from the lookout and there they are: not a hundred, but sixteen wild elephants bathing in the river. As fast as I can I start taking photos. My hands are trembling, calm down! But I’m a bundle of nerves and I just don’t know whether to take photos, use a VHS tape or just enjoy the moment, as if this surreal picture could go up into thin air any minute. But the herd is in no hurry. The elephants are drinking and rooting in the earth with their trunks. Lek explains that they are looking for a thick, black oily type of clay, full of minerals. The elephants first wash away the sand, giving the water a milky colour and then extract the clay. Once they’ve found a nice spot, they all start digging there. They look healthy. Fit, strong as, indeed, an elephant, rounded bodies, no scars. There are two young bulls, five or six years old, a girl of five, two tiny ones three or four years of age, a baby no more than one year old, and ten adults. Both young bulls have got tusks. Since 1999 there is ongoing research in this area into the number of bulls without tusks. Between two and five per cent of all bulls in Asia have no tusks because of a genetic disorder, but in China this percentage has risen to five to ten per cent because of poaching. You certainly live a lot longer without all that flashy ivory! The tiny baby is trying to reach the mud just like her aunts. When she fails, she just puts her trunk in her mother’s mouth. At that very moment there’s a loud trumpeting sound from another group: suddenly the jungle is awake. In no time the aunts form a circle around the baby, protecting it with their trunks.

Elephant bio-industry

Sitting in the dark on the platform until well into the night I try to imagine the way these elephants are living. At least it will be quite different from the five tame elephants we saw this afternoon in the show down there. Five times a day they give a show and in between shows they have their photos taken with tourists sitting on their trunks. When there’s no money to be earned they are huddled together in a four by five shack. It reminds of the Dutch bio-industry, only this time involving elephants. Elephant hell and elephant heaven only two kilometres apart. Why would anyone in their right minds stage a show with five tame elephants in a place where it’s all about conservation? People should be coming here to see WILD elephants. I wish, I dearly wish, these five elephants, which are originally from Thailand, could join the wild herd. That would really mean BRING THE ELEPHANT HOME!

Impenetrable forests and tolerant villagers

The Elephant Valley is located at the Sancha river, 47 kilometres north of the quiet town of Jinghong. Because the elephants here have a relatively large territory, and the fact that there is also ecological progress thanks to local government officials, animal protection groups and the local population, China is the only Asian country with a growing elephant population. But even here the elephants’ territory is reduced and cut up by deforestation for plantations. This will inevitably lead to a growing number of conflicts between local farmers and wild elephants. Scientists are studying the routes the elephants follow in order to find much needed salt, food and water, to try and reduce the number of conflicts between men and animals. Research shows that it’s in particular the need for salt that draws elephants to problem areas. Something that can easily be avoided by creating salt deposits at various places in their own territory. Farmers can be compensated for any damage to their crops, while in problem areas farmers can apply for a micro credit. It is hoped that in this way farmers will try to look for alternatives for their current agricultural activities and so gradually reduce the number of plantations in the jungle. And finally the local population is being trained in the fields of protection of the environment, technological development, agriculture and safety.
Because of these initiatives the mountain tribes in this area have become more tolerant towards the elephants. After all, they have lived here for generations together with the elephants. And even though the number of conflicts shows a rise in the past decennia and, therefore, a decrease in tolerance, they still respect the elephants, which –as they believe- by their sheer presence prevent poverty and accidents in the area where they live. If only this belief could be spread all over Asia….

Back in my bed my tree hut is shaking again when an elephant is rubbing its huge body against the tree. Actually, he rocks me to sleep. Early in the morning there are still five elephants in the river, while three others are quietly grazing on the bank. Only a few hours later the first tourists arrive with a loud racket. In a short time the Elephant Valley has become a famous tourist attraction. Pity that there are no basic rules of conduct such as: do not make any noise, do not come close, move quietly and don’t dump any waste. The elephants move on, into the jungle, looking for a bit of peace and quiet and food.

Next year, the ‘Vrienden van de Olifant’ (Friends of the Elephant) will be actively involved in Asia in projects that aim to solve the men-elephant conflicts. The Chinese projects teach us the interest of education, of research and involving farmers in finding solutions. Also, that a farmer with some training and some capital can make a new beginning. For his family and for the elephants. Know-how we can use well for our coming collaboration with a local project on the islands of Borneo or Sumatra.

View from the lookout early in the morning.