Portraits of Sri Lankan Mahouts
You can picture the scene, dear reader.
Aoy and I on our final night together on Maldives before I return to my eles and she to the grind stone work of opening a super luxury hotel and of training butlers (now training butlers sounds like a task I could handle; no, no, no, there's a mite to much tonic, let me finish it old boy and then you can try again, in the meantime could you re-iron those socks...)
But anyway, I digress, the sun is setting, the waves are crashing and all the usual romantic things are going on - "Darling" sez I "You know I do have a couple of days left on my holiday, one little business meeting in Sri Lanka and then we can spend the time exploring the tropical Island. Why don't you come with me?"
Ladies, if you are ever engaged to an elephant man (or tiger man for that matter) never, ever take a holiday with him in a range state. Luckily Aoy's been on holiday in Thailand with me so had some idea what she had let herself in for as, I guess, did I.
I had been invited over "since I was in the area" by Geoffrey Dobbs a boutique hotelier extraordinaire and the brains behind the Ceylon Elephant Polo Association - whose tournaments are legendary for being held in the most exotic locations.
Geoffrey was elsewhere when we arrived so we met with Libby, his Director of Operations, and Nimal his Elephant Polo coordinator and the business meeting consisted of "Welcome, here's a chicken wrap, now we don't want you to be overwhelmed but if you'd like to you can see as many elephants as you can handle. Only, they're a bit spread out, so here's a van, here's a driver, Mr Nimal will be your guide, take your chicken wrap with you if you like and off you go".
So it is fair to say we saw a bit of Sri Lanka, lots of railways and no trains; elephants tucked behind city temples, elephants living in politician's gardens, elephants bathing in rivers, elephants logging in the highlands, elephants next to Asia's biggest Buddha statue. Mostly friendly but a couple of musthers and one just unfriendly one, all with professional mahouts and some in great condition living in paradise and some not so happily lodged but well looked after nonetheless.
Had we seen any trains it would have been a literal whistle stop, we saw a lot of elephants and some great old grizzled mahouts....
...these were the mahouts of Singitta a 10 year old temple elephant (not pictured) but they also had a couple of musth bulls, a tame Spotted Deer and monkey running free and a class room full of school kids to complete the picture.
...I never managed to catch him at with the camera it but this guy spent the entire time the camera wasn't pointed at Kumari and him whispering sweet nothings to her. They proudly introduced me to Kumari's son, Bandara, who was ten years old but was distrusted because he'd killed a man at four (his age at the time, not that teatime) - all things can be forgiven a four year old I think, but they weren't too keen for me to approach him.
...a fifteen year old bull, Punchimahatya, who was working up in the hills pulling old rubber tree trunks across the river. The long stick is the Sri Lankan version of the Thai khor and though obviously capable of inflicting damage it is actually blunter than the Thai hook and I didn't see it used for more than a tap - it has been developed over the centuries as Sri Lankan mahouts do not always ride their elephants but more often walk along side them in parades and whilst they are logging, the long stick allows them to guide each leg of the elephant or to turn to exactly the desired position whilst standing on the ground. Least, that's what I was told.
There will be more Sri Lankan photos later.
PS. In case you are wondering, Aoy is still speaking to me!
Aoy and I on our final night together on Maldives before I return to my eles and she to the grind stone work of opening a super luxury hotel and of training butlers (now training butlers sounds like a task I could handle; no, no, no, there's a mite to much tonic, let me finish it old boy and then you can try again, in the meantime could you re-iron those socks...)
But anyway, I digress, the sun is setting, the waves are crashing and all the usual romantic things are going on - "Darling" sez I "You know I do have a couple of days left on my holiday, one little business meeting in Sri Lanka and then we can spend the time exploring the tropical Island. Why don't you come with me?"
Ladies, if you are ever engaged to an elephant man (or tiger man for that matter) never, ever take a holiday with him in a range state. Luckily Aoy's been on holiday in Thailand with me so had some idea what she had let herself in for as, I guess, did I.
I had been invited over "since I was in the area" by Geoffrey Dobbs a boutique hotelier extraordinaire and the brains behind the Ceylon Elephant Polo Association - whose tournaments are legendary for being held in the most exotic locations.
Geoffrey was elsewhere when we arrived so we met with Libby, his Director of Operations, and Nimal his Elephant Polo coordinator and the business meeting consisted of "Welcome, here's a chicken wrap, now we don't want you to be overwhelmed but if you'd like to you can see as many elephants as you can handle. Only, they're a bit spread out, so here's a van, here's a driver, Mr Nimal will be your guide, take your chicken wrap with you if you like and off you go".
So it is fair to say we saw a bit of Sri Lanka, lots of railways and no trains; elephants tucked behind city temples, elephants living in politician's gardens, elephants bathing in rivers, elephants logging in the highlands, elephants next to Asia's biggest Buddha statue. Mostly friendly but a couple of musthers and one just unfriendly one, all with professional mahouts and some in great condition living in paradise and some not so happily lodged but well looked after nonetheless.
Had we seen any trains it would have been a literal whistle stop, we saw a lot of elephants and some great old grizzled mahouts....
...these were the mahouts of Singitta a 10 year old temple elephant (not pictured) but they also had a couple of musth bulls, a tame Spotted Deer and monkey running free and a class room full of school kids to complete the picture.
...I never managed to catch him at with the camera it but this guy spent the entire time the camera wasn't pointed at Kumari and him whispering sweet nothings to her. They proudly introduced me to Kumari's son, Bandara, who was ten years old but was distrusted because he'd killed a man at four (his age at the time, not that teatime) - all things can be forgiven a four year old I think, but they weren't too keen for me to approach him.
...a fifteen year old bull, Punchimahatya, who was working up in the hills pulling old rubber tree trunks across the river. The long stick is the Sri Lankan version of the Thai khor and though obviously capable of inflicting damage it is actually blunter than the Thai hook and I didn't see it used for more than a tap - it has been developed over the centuries as Sri Lankan mahouts do not always ride their elephants but more often walk along side them in parades and whilst they are logging, the long stick allows them to guide each leg of the elephant or to turn to exactly the desired position whilst standing on the ground. Least, that's what I was told.
There will be more Sri Lankan photos later.
PS. In case you are wondering, Aoy is still speaking to me!
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