Yesterday we finally went to on a outing. Hunny was grumpy and didn't go as he hates the sun and heat. Met up with SDC and Samantha at BK, Mutiara D'sara and drove to DPC's Waterfront to meet up with SunShan and Wasabi at 7.45am.
We then followed GPS and drove to Genting Sempah for breakfast...only have Mc D and malay stalls open. Word of advice is that you may want to tabao other styles of food from home. We drove in Karak Highway till we saw the Lanchang exit and followed the GPS (which had a few malfunctioning errors along the way) till we reached signboards that said Kuala Gandah Elephant Conservatory Park. We were a lil unlucky as we were stuck behind a bus load of tourists heading the same way too.
Once we reached there, the park has lost its charm from the first time I was there 2 years ago( you can read it here and here). The little quaint village has been commercialised. The aboriginal village has been modernized and they no longer lived in their traditional handmade houses and were instead living in generic concrete homes. The park itself has also been modernized and is halfway building a grand concrete entrance...why couldn't they have designed something more nature looking and made from natural trees n plants?
We got our passes from the reception counter. Please note that the reason why we were there so early (we reached at 10am) was that visitor passes only limited to 120 people a day of which I think only 50 passes were available for participation of elephant rides and activities. The activities will only start at 2pm. Entrance is FREE but you can donate money too to further improve the center and its elephants. Activities include feeding the elephants, riding and bathing with the elephants.
We were disappointed when we couldn't get 5 riding passes due to the busload of people who were in front of us. We only managed to get 3 riding passes. Then, we were informed that there was no bathing activity as the river was overflowing due to heavy rains. We then went off in search of the elephants. We found them swaying happily to the malay music being played on.
After a while, they brought out 2 baby elephants. This is Langsat and she is a playful elephant who loves sugarcane,
This is Sam and I posing with the larger elephants.
After abt 1 hour there, we were feeling bored and decided to explore Deer Land which was a few KM from Kuala Gandah Elephant Park. I wasn't expecting much but deers but oh boy..was I so wrong...
We paid RM6 for ticket fees...no extra charges for cameras (unlike some throat cutting parks and zoos in Kuala Lumpur). We went in and were pleased by the clealiness and organized manner of the trails in the parks. Our first stop was the deer park. The deer were so friendly and gentle and what we didn't expect was that we were allowed in the deer park together with the deer. They were so tame that they stood still whilst we photographed them.
The caretaker of the deer was very friendly and informative. He taught us to hold the basket high and put the food up at a height for the deer to stand and eat the food (strips of veges).
This is wasabi and gf with the deer reaching out to the food...
Some deer would get so desperate and tug at the shirts in order to get your attention on them to feed them..lol...
This deer is partially blind in a eye due to cataract and is very twitchy. The caretaker always feed her lots as she cannot fight with the other deer for the food.
This is a funny bull deer who tasted his own pee and hated the taste. The caretaker said that deer often taste their own urine to check their hormonal levels.
This is he drenching his mouth and surroundings with own drool to cleanse away the disgusting taste...
Wasabi suddenly noticed that this stud male's lil bro was bleeding and we were informed by the caretaker that the male stud had an hormonal imbalance causing him to be "hard" for a long time and went on a sexcapade till he bled there. The lil bro was also "jammed" and couldn't withdraw and they had to give him a jab to soften so that it can withdraw...poor thing...
Then off we went to see the other animals. There were rabbits, quails, birds, ferrets, chinchillas, python and we finally reached the Sun Bear's pen. As usual, the caretaker there opened the gate and let us in and we went in warily as we were scared of the bear. The bear was so cute and obedient. The bear sat patiently at its log and let people pose with it whilst snacking on peanuts. This is Samantha posing with the bear...
So cute when he's being treated with condensed milk....
This Sun Bear is 11 years old. Nice, right? This concludes part 1 of my visit to Pahang. Next up is Mentakab.
