KLIA, 20 January 2007

Elephants

The Taiping zoo is definitely one of my favourite spots on earth. The highlight for me is close to the exit: The Elephants. It is a entire family, with father, mother, auntie and 2 kids.

This family is busy whole day long, doing all kinds of things, but for the larger part: keeping each other busy. I can spend hours relaxing, just watching them.

The small kid is full of energy and enthusiastically chases a pigeon. Now this hunt is far from successful, but well, you never know.

When the caretaker enters their premises with a car full of food, the entire family follows him like a flock of sheep. It looks like a parade, the caretaker up front and the whole parading family following.

The trees just outside their premises are just within trunk range for the adults. These leaves must taste good as desert. The little ones can only look, o dear these trees are yet far out of range!

The Taiping zoo opens at night too. Most animals have entered their quarters for the night, but others are more active than during daytime. The zoo is quiet. The visitors are few and far between. THe animals at wake approach each human with great curiosity. Is this just a visitor or a caretaker with fresh food? The black panther is a bit too enthusiastic to me. Does this lethal animal make any distinction between a visitor and food? The wire between him and me is a bit too thin to my likening.

Just before the exit, the elephant family is preparing dinner. It is very special to see how elephants use their trunk in cooking.

  1. For a start, the trunk acts as a chopping knife. With a front leg they hold the branches and use their trunk to break away pieces.
  2. Next, the trunk will be a hammer. They pound these branches against their front leg. It is like tendering a steak.
  3. And finally the trunk becomes the cutlery that takes the food to the mouth.
After finishing the last leaves the family heads for their night quarters. Mother pushes the Benjamin gently into the right direction. This kid obviously thinks it is not bed time yet. Please could the last elephant switch off the light?

I'll head for my night quarters myself as well, I'll exit the zoo to spend my last night in Taiping. Byebye Taiping, bye bye zoo, bye bye elephants, till next time. The next couple of days I'll see little green. By Ghan I hope to cross a desert, from Adelaide to Katherine, and back.
City Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su
Adelaide Departure 17:15 17:15
Alice Springs Arrival 11:55 11:55
Departure 16:10 16:10
Katherine Arrival 8:00 8:00
Departure 18:20 18:20
Alice Springs Arrival 9:00 9:20
Departure 12:40 12:45
Adelaide Arrival 9:30 9:00

Till next nut,
Nut