Ridin' the fences, re-takin' the swamp...
November's not quite upon us but there's a change in the air, the morning mists of Autumn are evident even on the small window on camp that is the webcam; it is a long weekend, the end of Buddhist lent, and our many up-from-Bangkok Thai guests are enjoying being semi-cold even as our staff are wrapped up for an attempt on the pole.
The floods are receding and I think we can safely say that any rain now would be a surprise, the other day we pushed out onto the Anantara grassland for the first time in months much to the excitement of Booer Tong and new girl Tong Kwao, fresh grass, tall grass, new birds (Booer Tong took it upon herself to become scared of the surprised doves) - it took us ten minutes of jogging elephants to get them settled down and eating the fresh saccharum spontaneaum grasses.
But fresh grass there is after a night-time diet of bamboo and imported pineapple trees and it won't be long before all the Anantara girls and Foundation babies are down amongst it every night - though it is still a bit damp for now it is drying fast from the high tide mark at mahout shoulder level...
Across at Four Seasons the boy and girls are getting equally bored with their monotonous night-time diets (even though they have a cracking view up there) but thanks to some machinations, hard detective work and some good old funny hand-shakes we have managed to rent some land contiguous with our forest.
It is the kind of land that makes me angry, taken from the forest in the last great land give away for poor farmers (not angry at that bit), cleared needlessly and then unused as the new owner learned that just having land and planting trees doesn't make you as rich as the businessmen promised - you have at work and water, work to water, work again to get the trees to grow. As with much of the land given away in these grabs it was just left whilst the owner sat on his paper and has been invaded by an exotic (I think) vine that is so virulent that it has the power to cover not only the grasses, wild taro and ground cover but to take down the mature bamboo if not kept at bay.
It has not been kept at bay: I tried to walk the fences through this, at times shoulder high, tangled mess (dieing elephant fodder strangled in the understory) but gave up and called on those icebreaking super-tankers of the jungle world that I just happen to have at hand, the elephants...
...from then on the vine didn't really stand a chance, though even Tong Kam had trouble pushing herself through it - they were all excited to discover the remaining food uncovered with every vine ripped - a step, a push, a snack, a rip, a snack and a step - even with their help it was slow going.
With their selective eating and ripping as well as the dragging of the chain we're hoping the elephants can push the strangling, invasive weed onto the defensive and within a year we might have some recovering forest in the non-sleeping areas and sustainable ele fodder where they'll spend their nights - whatever happens they get a different view and, more importantly, a varied and vitamin full diet.
The floods are receding and I think we can safely say that any rain now would be a surprise, the other day we pushed out onto the Anantara grassland for the first time in months much to the excitement of Booer Tong and new girl Tong Kwao, fresh grass, tall grass, new birds (Booer Tong took it upon herself to become scared of the surprised doves) - it took us ten minutes of jogging elephants to get them settled down and eating the fresh saccharum spontaneaum grasses.
But fresh grass there is after a night-time diet of bamboo and imported pineapple trees and it won't be long before all the Anantara girls and Foundation babies are down amongst it every night - though it is still a bit damp for now it is drying fast from the high tide mark at mahout shoulder level...
Across at Four Seasons the boy and girls are getting equally bored with their monotonous night-time diets (even though they have a cracking view up there) but thanks to some machinations, hard detective work and some good old funny hand-shakes we have managed to rent some land contiguous with our forest.
It is the kind of land that makes me angry, taken from the forest in the last great land give away for poor farmers (not angry at that bit), cleared needlessly and then unused as the new owner learned that just having land and planting trees doesn't make you as rich as the businessmen promised - you have at work and water, work to water, work again to get the trees to grow. As with much of the land given away in these grabs it was just left whilst the owner sat on his paper and has been invaded by an exotic (I think) vine that is so virulent that it has the power to cover not only the grasses, wild taro and ground cover but to take down the mature bamboo if not kept at bay.
It has not been kept at bay: I tried to walk the fences through this, at times shoulder high, tangled mess (dieing elephant fodder strangled in the understory) but gave up and called on those icebreaking super-tankers of the jungle world that I just happen to have at hand, the elephants...
...from then on the vine didn't really stand a chance, though even Tong Kam had trouble pushing herself through it - they were all excited to discover the remaining food uncovered with every vine ripped - a step, a push, a snack, a rip, a snack and a step - even with their help it was slow going.
With their selective eating and ripping as well as the dragging of the chain we're hoping the elephants can push the strangling, invasive weed onto the defensive and within a year we might have some recovering forest in the non-sleeping areas and sustainable ele fodder where they'll spend their nights - whatever happens they get a different view and, more importantly, a varied and vitamin full diet.
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