We stayed in the most beautiful house which was a five minute walk from the beach. We arrived at the house and settled in, had some lunch and got ready to go and visit the family.

The drive to visit the family was only a 5 minute drive so we were there in a matter of minutes. The unfinished house stands out like a sore thumb compared to all the newly refurbished houses.  So immediately we knew which house it was that  needed the help.

We went to the next door neighbours house and as they were speaking Sara would translate and tell us what they were saying, the family had made a cost list but Sara told them there would be a volunteer program so the labouring cost would be taken off. It was sad to see that one family were left out and all the surrounding houses were finished. I don’t think the family expect much but it seems they will be grateful for any help that they get! They do have a close neighborhood so the family are being well looked after but it will be so heart warming to know that in a couple of months the family will have their house back. The family made us tea and some food which was really nice of them and we drank and ate to show our appreciation. The family asked us to visit another man that was injured in cross-fire in the war which meant he is now paralysed from the waist down. We visited and Sara was trying to see if he could be helped in some way, the man was willing to work as before the accident he was keen on agriculture and would be more than happy to find a job that he could do. We felt really sorry to see a young man that had been injured through no fault of his own but were impressed and delighted to hear that he was still keen and willing to help provide for his family and get back to work doing anything possible.

After our visits we went back to the house to relax and chill out, went went to the beach for and hour or two before dinner, the beach was desserted so we had the whole place to ourselves.

We were up at 7:30am ready to start the day, we had some breakfast then went to a different beach for a few hours, a lagoon, then went on a boat ride around the lagoon. Then stopped for some ginger tea.

We went back to the house for lunch, then left for the temple.

After the temple we went to some hot springs! Which were so hot!!

Then made our journey home.

All in all one of the best field trips Ive ever been on also a definite eye opener!!

Our daily chores included, counting elephant poo and hurling it onto a pile, great workout, who needs dumbells when you can have “dungbells”.

Followed by bathing  and exfoliating the elephant, awesome experience and very refreshing with the hot environment.

Gardening with your fellow volunteers proved to be a nice outdoor bonding time and quite therapeutic for the sole.

Grass cutting proved to be the most eventful.  We later hid the grass in a large paddock and watched our elephants at the end of the day mingle together and chew on their found grass cutting.  Really lovely to see the mahouts, elephants and volunteers come together after a hard day, very rewarding.

Some days included English teaching which again was very rewarding, I think for both us and the children, even if they did spend most of the time laughing at us.

Anyway as mentioned this is our last day, we will miss every aspect of our role as a volunteer here and can’t wait to adopt our first elephant.

Julie and Paul (Australian & Kiwi)

It’s such a time waster watching their individual personalities.

Paul and Julie

You have the opportunity to play an important part in helping to promote the welfare of Asian elephants in Sri Lanka by becoming a member of the MEF and receiving regular updates on our projects and our elephants.

When you become a MEF member you will automatically adopt one or all of our elephants.

Currently it costs $15 USD a day to feed one elephant here at the MEF – this does not include the cost of any medical treatment.

As a MEF member you will receive:

• Free admission to the MEF
• An adoption certificate on hand made recycled elephant dung paper
• An elephant fact sheet on your own adopted elephant

If you are under 16 your membership pack will also include the Millennium Elephant Foundation activity pack containing quizzes, facts and a make your own Ele-friend.

In your membership pack you will receive a certificate with a photo of your elephant, plus a description of their history, personality and news about what they’ve been up to.

Membership fees are as follows:

• Standard Rs.3500/= / $35 / £20 GBP (inc. P+P)

Adopts one elephant for one year

• Under 16′s Rs.2500/= / $25 / £15 GBP (inc. P+P)

Adopts one elephant for one year

• Life Rs.25000/= / $250 / £140 GBP (inc. P+P)

Adopts all elephants for life

NB: prices indicated in Sri Lankan Rupees / US dollars / British Pounds

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for supporting the MEF, without your kind donations we would not be able to provide such a vital service for the elephants throughout Sri Lanka.

Todays session began by hiding some tasty treats into a large stone bucket and with the mahouts near by allowing the elephants to graze and roam as they please. The mahouts need to be close by initially until the elephants are more used to each others very close company and until the fence is installed. We also introduced Bandara to the group. Todays session included Raja, Rani and Bandara.

Raja headed straight for a tasty looking tree until he sniffed out the treats hidden by the volunteers! He then went to introduce himself to Bandara who is still shy and was less eager to explore. Rani wandered alone for a while but made repeated trips back assistant Mahout Sandaruan without any prompting from him. She then went to hang out with the boys until Pooja joined the party and then the girls who are great friends had a nice cuddle and Rani started following Pooja around.

This will become a daily session in the afternoons here at MEF and we are all very excited to see how the elephants develop and react to these important changes.

Raja finds the treats!

Bandara

He is a 30ish year old male who works with Mahouts Sunil and assistant Sissera. Bandara has come from a hard 15 year long career of logging and working giving tourist rides using heavy and dangerous Howdahs.  He has some now healed wounds on his hips from the working equipment.

He spent a good first night with us and is eating well, are hoping to fatten him up a bit as he is underweight. We are allowing him to settle for a few days before a vet comes to give him a full assesment to check his physical and mental health, in the mean time he is being kept slightly apart from the other elephants until they all get used to eachother and will not be working immediately with volunteers.

Although he has very healthy feet his walk is not as easy as it should be and we are very keen to check for any spinal damage that may have been caused by the Howdahs and logging equipment. He is also reputed to have behavioural issues, probably caused by the illtreatment he likely received as a working elephant and he came from an area that had little water meaning he wuld have dehydrated and unable to bathe properly.

His owners are however very caring and will visit him every month, they were struggling to afford his upkeep which was why he ended up in the logging industry. We are hoping that with the love and care he will receive at MEF he will soon be a very happy elephant and that his personality will reflect this.

After a long battle with various health problems, Sumana was just too tired to carry on. She has remained patient and always shown amazing bravery and grace throughout her treatment. A truly inspiring elephant, she charmed everyone she met, she was well loved and will be deeply missed by us all here.

A small service attended by a priest will be taking place at 10:30am today and she will be buried onsite here at MEF, her final home where we hope she was as happy as she made us.

Please let us all remember the good times with Sumana, we would be grateful if you could share with us your memories and favourite photos of this remarkable lady who is now free from pain and at peace.  Sleep well Sumana.