| We chose Kaudulla because of the elephants, and it was a wise decision. There were hundreds of the pachyderms! Some were strung out along the water, peacefully grazing, For a few minutes we watched a newborn calf, not more than a couple of days old, staying close to mama. Lots of other jeeps werre parked nearby, but there was no sound--no honking, no shouting, and no revving of engines. Tourists stood in their vehicles and took innumerable selfies, but the elephants ignored us humans. They just kept on being elephants. In addition to the stunning silence, there was the lack of litter. Nowhere in the entire park did we see any scrap of paper or a single plastic bottle. It was the cleanest and quietest we've ever been in in South Asia. Of course, many of the elephants were accompanied by white herons, who happily ate whatever the elephants stirred up with their huge feet. The elephants paid no attention to them either. They just continued grazing, pulling up the grass, shaking it with their trunks to knock the dirt off the roots, and lifted it to their mouths. We learned that an elephant consumes about 300 kgs of grass everyday. We also learned how to distinguish males from females. The females have straight backs, while the backs of the males have a distinct slope. All the animals we saw were very healthy. A couple of teenagers were playfully sparring, but we didn’t see any fighting. We didn’t see any classrooms, but, apparently, elephants have to teach their young ones almost everything, just like humans. |
|
