Malaysia Travel

Finally today I manage to visit the Kuala Gandah Elephant Sactuary. It is one of it kind in Malaysia and for someone that love nature, I believed it is one of the interesting place that he should not missed when visiting Malaysia.

Since this is the first time I visit this place, I have no idea about the road there or the time it open. But luckily everything went on smoothly and my trip there is very fine…

For someone that new, here is some information about the sanctuary that I found on the net:-

Objectives of the Centre
- Overall
For the continuos conservation of the elephants and its habitats through sustainable management in tandem
with the aspirations of the country.
- Immediate
1) Ensuring of the protection and management of the elephants and its habitants
2) Enhancing the public’s knowledge,awareness and support on the importance of elephant conservation.
3) Managing the Centre as a centre for Research and Education as well as an economic & eco-tourism
activities site.

The Centre has also played guests to interns/volunteers with veterinary, zoologial and eco-tourism
and/or business/marketing OR hands-on living skills backgrounds from Czech Republic, the UK,
the US, New Zealand, Slovenia, France, Switzerland, Netherlands, Germany and Canada, not only
to offer their skills and knowledge for the conservation of elephants but, in exchange, to learn more about
the local culture, conservation efforts and the host country.

It take me about 2 hours drive from Kuala Lumpur (at 80km/h) to reach the place… I don’t know the exact distance as I didn’t measure it at the time I start the trip. However, it is about 10km from the last toll i.e Exit 816 of the highway.

Here is the activities there:

ACTIVITY SCHEDULE
12.30pm & 1-30pm - Video Documentary show @ the Visitor Registration Office
2pm - The elephants will be led away to the holding area for grooming &
handfeeding where visitors will be invited in the handfeeding session.
*2-30pm - Overland elephant rides followed by an EleFun time with the
elephants in the nearby river!!!
4pm - Leave some donations - The sanctuary closes!

One thing about this sanctuary is that there are no entrance fees like other place, However they will accept the donation from visitor. We might feel that why should they need it, but the fact is the food for the elephant and the cost to maintain it is very high… and when you watch the documentarie, you will understand more about it.

There are lots of people take the opportunity to feed the elephant. All the food is provided by the sanctuary, it cost a lots of money from my point of view.

One of the fun thing to see is that all the kids is very happy to feed the elephant, I can see that they all have really good time. It is a good way to teach your kids about the nature of the elephant and make them more responsible to the earth.

Many people also take this opportunity to ride the elephant. Each day, they limit up to 120 visitor to ride the elephant (there are about 6 elephant if I am not mistake that visitor can ride)