After the 30 minute drive into the provinces surrounding Ubud we arrived at the Elephant Safari Park & Lodge in the village of Taro. It was a great little journey past a part of Bali which is very much, at heart, still traditional Balinese. We arrived a little early to check into our room but were given our itinerary which would allow us access into the park.
The visitor area of the park surrounds the main enclosure, on one side there is a small scenic walk which features the forna and flora that they have used to landscape the land which originally was all Paddy fields. This leads down to the main area where immediately you are able to feed and interact with some of the residents.
Having come from the Alayna the food here is about twice as expensive and half the quality, it’s much more of what you can expect at a good theme park than a luxury resort, a pizza for one costing much more then you could get a meal for two for in the streets of Ubud. After lunch we went and checked into our rather impressive lodge.
Afterwards we had time allotted to explore the park and as most of the trainers had taken their elephants to shade from the mid-day heat we found a small, somewhat hidden, path running on the quieter side of the main enclosure. This took us around to see not only the resting elephants and trainers but also the facilities for breeding and the younger elephants.
We then made it back to the Arena in time for the talent show which claimed to show off the talents of some of the younger elephants and the skills they had naturally shown prowess for. This included football, basketball and even Harmonica Playing! The male elephant, Ryan, also had an aptitude for drop-kicking footballs (See the video here).
All of the day guests seemed to leave the park after the show, having had their safari ride, and with a bit of time to ourselves we had a quiet walk around as the day had cooled somewhat. We found one of the trainers sitting down to eat some fruit before his journey home and his elephant was waiting patiently at the fence for him.
We sat with him for about 30 minutes talking about his elephant and, in fact, the whole park whilst having some one on one time with his elephant who, as we learned about all elephants, was more than happy to continue eating. It really felt like an exclusive “behind the scenes” moment and well worth staying the night for as all the other overnight guests seemed to have escaped back to their accomodation and we had the park to ourselves, aside from the staff, for a while.
Once the trainier we had spoken to rode off to put his elephant away for the night and we made our way back to our accommodation where we had a couple hours of chill time and watched the provided DVD Documentary about how some of the residents had been rescued from Sumatra in the early days of the Park. After a quick shower our phone rang to tell us an elephant would be outside out balcony to take us to the main arena for an elephant show and the dinner.
We expectantly rushed to our balcony to await our elephant and were greeted by the train of elephants who passed by to take us and our neighbours to the main arena. A slow meandering walk on the back of the elephant took us through the main enclosure where a few of the elephants that had the evening off were slowly chewing their way through what seemed to be a small forest of coconut leaves. We watched the same “talent show” as earlier in the day before making our was to dinner that had been set up right on the edge of the elephant Enclosure.
Breakfast was inclusive but dinner was a bit pricey and not quite up to the Balinese standard that had been set, yet it was good in comparison to what could be expected for the same money in the UK. After breakfast we made our was down to the elephant Bathing area as guests are offered the chance to bath and swim with the elephants before the park opens to day visitors.
The bath experience was a great opportunity to get really close to the parks more permanent residents and the elephants were more than happy to have a couple of photos in return for a good hard scrub. After which we were led around to the side of the water hole where we awaited our turn to mount and bath with an elephant. The trainers seemed to take joy in asking the elephants to dunk people in the rather cold water up to their necks! Also I am not sure, however many times they insisted, that they were indeed “fresh coconuts” floating in the water……
Given the swim alongside our new friends, we headed back to the room for a shower before once again being telephoned in anticipation of pick up for our “safari ride”. Once again and elephant sauntered up to our balcony for us to step onto her and take off around the replica Jungle with a Trainer who not only showed us the Balinese hospitality we had come to expect; but was more than happy to discuss the park and the elephants care with us. After passing through the 15 or so minutes of wooded area he then took us, and of course our trusty ride, for a quick dip in the water pool before dropping us of in the main area of the resort once more.
After packing we had enough time for one last visit to the interaction area where Nicola was able to have a post swim cuddle with the elephant she had swam with. The park’s youngest resident also came to join his mother and although not as interested in people holding food as the adult elephants, was happy to say hello.
Now we are on our way to a more touristy resort for the last part of our stay in Bali.
A Ginger Down Under
18th June 2015