To hell with heffalumps... (an attention grabbing title but a project unaffected)

...when I see a title like that it is guaranteed to grab my attention and when I scroll down and find out the article may affect the work of friends then it seems I have to do a little research.

    You may remember that I have mentioned the elefantasia project and the great work being done by Sebastien and Gilles in Laos for the good of the elephants there, both through their long jungle treks and the elephant festival they hold in the Hong Sa valley every February - indeed it is the very heffalumps used for trekking and who form the heart of the festival that are being invited underground in the title.

    Although I haven't found anything new and official about the power plant project in the month or so since the article was posted projects such as this, all controversial, don't necessarily attract the greatest amount of news coverage in their respective countries and I must say that articles published on this particular website are usually from the highest quality sources.

    However, speaking with Sebastien, Gilles and some of their supporters I learn that the elefantasia project is going great guns - whatever the status of the power station project their treks continue to move through secluded and unpolluted (though heavily hunted) valleys, their mobile veterinary clinic is a great success with over 100 elephants checked by an enthusiastic Dr. Pouangsingnam so far, a visitors information and education centre is planned and, (selfishly) the best news of all, the Festival is still on for next February so I'll have another excuse to visit.

    Pick-ups from the power station are frequently spotted in the town but nothing is interfering with the guys' good work - as with everywhere in this fast changing world, if I were you I'd get up to dusty old Hong Sa quickly before it changes forever.  Song Kinh does not overstate the relative difficulty of the journey but it is precisely this that keeps the faint hearted away and makes a visit so rewarding - the road less travelled and all that.
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To hell with heffalumps

September 22nd, 2007 by Song Kinh, Guest Contributor · 4 Comments

[Song Kinh is a Singaporean writer who lives in Northern Thailand.]

Last year the wildly successful Elephant festival in Hongsa (in northern Laos) attracted around 10,000 visitors. About 2000 of those were foreigners, some leaning heavily on sticks, others elegant attired, others dreadlocked and ganja inspired.

They had made, in white fella terms, an epic journey. It’s not like Hongsa is just around the corner. Some, mainly the embassy set,  had flown in by chopper, while others had taken the 7 hour very slow and very uncomfortable boat trip from Luang Prabang and endured another 2 hours riding sideways in a local truck with compromised suspension. Others opted for a 3 day motorcycle ride and sore knees.

FULL ARTICLE

Posted by John Roberts at Sun, 21 Oct 2007 11:36:00 GMT
Categories: Regional Elephants
 
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