Well we are finally back to civilization after an 8 day
adventure into the best hidden treasure of India, Mudumalai Tiger
Sanctuary! It has been an amazing
experience, and one that I certainly will never forget! I learned many things about elephant
health, including common diseases they are vaccinated against, hoof and tusk
maintenance, dental care, and how to age/sex an Asian elephant. However, before we began our great
safari adventure, we started our trip in a town called Mysore.
Mysore is considered a palace town full of beautiful places
to tour, exquisite views, and bothersome people trying to sell you things. We began at a palace that was built for
the king by his mother after his father, the previous king had passed
away. As we were walking through,
I was mesmerized. Places of such
beauty had only existed in movies until now, I thought. Every wall was painted with scenery
from majestic times, there were beautiful stained glass ceilings in an
oversized ballroom that was gold plated, and even the doors were gorgeous stained
tikh wood with beautiful carvings on them. In fact, each door in the palace is worth around
$500,000!
After leaving there we decided to travel up 3,000 feet into
the mountains to visit a temple.
As the car took us higher into the mountains we began to see very pretty
views, and the view of the Western Ghats mountains was amazing.
We then decided that it would be appropriate to visit
another palace, which contained a bar, (which is very scandalous in India) to
have a drink. It was quite
refreshing and as we made our way out of the palace we were stopped by a
magician wanting to show us his tricks.
I can honestly say that they were the best magic tricks I have ever
seen, and he was really funny too.
From there we headed to the hotel and went to bed.
The next morning we headed to a place that is known for Jain
pilgrimage. Jainism is a religion
that is close to Hinduism, and at the temple we went to, a Jain saint is
depicted in the largest monolithic (one stone) statue in the world. In order to get to see the statue, a
person has to walk up 652 steps, and it is crazy how tired you get walking up
the steps. It was cool to see, and
after that we went to 2 soap stone temples. The temples have a carving on every single exposed
piece. The carvings are so
intricate and beautiful it amazes me how they did it so long ago. It is also sad to look at the temples
because the British and Muslims have raided the temples and knocked off the
heads, arms, and legs of a lot of the carvings. After that we headed back to the hotel, had dinner, and went
to sleep.
The next morning we packed everything up and headed to
Mudumalai! Once we reached
Mudumalai we had a really good lunch made by THE man at Mudumalai, Eta (meaning
brother). After that we traveled
to the elephant camp, where they keep all of the working elephants. While there we learned how to sex Asian
elephants. Interestingly, Asian
elephants do not all have tusks, unlike African elephants. Female Asian elephants do not have
tusks, however they may have some that are about 4 inches long. Male elephants typically have long
thick tusks depending on their age, however there are some tusk-less Asian male
elephants, called Muknas. To sex
an Asian elephant, one must look at the tail head (Bulbo spongiosus muscle) and
decide if it is concave or convex shaped.
If it is convex, the elephant is male, and likewise if it is concave,
the animal is female. We also
learned how to age Asian elephants. In order to age the elephants, one must
look at several factors. Things
such as de-pigmentation of the face and trunk, a fold in the top of the ear,
the length and girth of tusks, dental age, and buccal depression (cheek
depression) can give you a fairly accurate age. Elephants begin to develop a fold in the top of their ear by
the age of 10 years old and by age 30, the fold is 1 inch wide. Then, for every 20 years, the fold
gains another inch. Looking at the
ear, one can also judge age by the amount of tears in the ears. Elephants generally live to be around
80-85 in captivity and 60-65 in the wild.
We also learned about elephants teeth. Elephants have no teeth on the top part of their jaw, and
just 2 very large, jaw-length molars on their bottom jaw. They have 6 sets of molars in their
lifetime with the first erupting around 4 months of age, the second around 8
months of age, and so on. The
sixth molar will have 12 ridges in the tooth, and it will eventually wear out,
push out of the jaw, and will leave the elephant toothless, and render it to
die by starvation if it is in the wild.
In captivity however, they are fed very soft food to avoid dental
problems. Leading into that, the
food that they are fed comes in 6 inch by 6 inch blocks and is composed of
blocks of rice, ragi, and horse gram.
They also get salt, jaggery, sugar cane, and random fruits that are
provided by visitors to the sanctuary.
Once the blocks have been prepared and cooked, the Mahouts (elephant
keepers) crush the blocks, mash the blocks together into a basketball size
bolus, and then feed it to the elephant.
We got to participate in the feeding, and fed them some sugar cane. After that, we got to go visit with a 1
year old elephant named Sammorrhyan.
He hugged me with his trunk, and it was very cute! After that, I met my best friend in
elephant shaped, a 5 year old girl named Massini. She could not get enough of me, and kept sucking on my neck
with her trunk, which is apparently a term of endearment. Every time I would clap my hands together,
she would lift her trunk and “kiss” me on the cheek. I loved her!!!
After about an hour of playing around we headed back to Peacock
Dormitory to have dinner and retire for the night. On our ride back to the dorm we spotted a panther, which is
a RARE occurrence! I didn’t know
that panthers and leopards are the same cat, so to see a spotted “panther” was
a shock to me.
The next morning we woke up bright and early and went to
watch elephants being washed by their Mahouts in the river. Each elephant has a specific Mahout
that is assigned to them, and they really form a bond with them. The elephant training is done
completely by one Mahout, and it is really amazing how well they listen to
their trainer! It is incredible
that an animal of such size listens like a puppy when given a command by their
Mahout. Every morning the females,
Muknas, and big Tuskers (male elephants with large tusks) that are either used
for work or rides get bathed in the river. The Mahout will tell the animal to lie down in the river,
the elephant will oblige, and then the Mahout will climb all over the animal
scrubbing it with a brush and stone.
This is the elephant’s reward for a job well done everyday, and the
elephants absolutely love it.
After watching that for a while we returned to the camp to play with the
babies. We then went on a ride
around looking at everything trying to spot a tiger. We saw many wild elephants, a giant squirrel (endangered),
bison, spotted deer, and Sambar deer.
Then, we went on a bus Safari for a half hour where we spotted a sloth
bear and all of the animals mentioned above. After that, we had dinner, and went on another night ride,
but didn’t see anything new.
On Saturday morning we had a date with the forest ranger at
his home. He explained to us the
importance of keeping the world’s forest intact in order to keep life as we know
it. He had a very important
message and I totally agree that forests need to remain intact. He also had a lovely wife who treated
us to breakfast and tea. From
there, we went to the camp and distributed the shoes that we brought with us
from the U.S. to the nearly 50 Mahouts there. It was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life to
see one kid who was probably 13 find a pair of shoes that he loved, put them
on, and wear them around like he just won a million dollars. I taught him how to tie the shoes
because he had never had tennis shoes before. It is amazing the things that we take for granted, like
knowing how to tie shoes. From
there we went on two 3 hour safaris, which were beautiful. We also got charged by a wild elephant,
but he wasn’t too serious about actually chasing us, thank God. After that, we had dinner and went to
bed.
On Sunday we got up early and went on some more
safaris. We also climbed up into 3
watch towers as well as a small mountain in order to take some pictures of the
breathtaking views. The views of
the Western Ghats were spectacular, the pictures absolutely do not do it
justice, and they certainly will not be forgotten. After that we spent our last night at Mudumalai eating
Jackfruit with honey.
On Monday morning we got up and went to take an elephant
ride! It was amazing, and I really
enjoyed it. It feels absolutely
surreal being up so high on such a bumpy ride! It was a great way to end our trip to Mudumalai for
sure! After that we made the 3
hour trek back to Mysore to board the train back to Chennai. It was a long 7 hours, but now that
we’re back, I am more than excited to be heading back to America tomorrow!!!! I
absolutely can’t wait!
I thoroughly have enjoyed my stay in India, and have learned
so much about India itself, animals, veterinary medicine, and about myself in
general. I have enjoyed many once
in a lifetime experiences that will not ever be forgotten, made life long
friends, met many incredible people, and have learned to deal with anything
that comes my way absolutely solo.
This trip has also taught me a lot about life in general. I have learned to not stress the little
things, to take advantage of every learning opportunity available, and to
realize that in the end everything works out the way it was meant to be. I absolutely do not regret for one
second coming on this trip, and I believe I will be a better veterinarian
because of it. I would like to
extend a HUGE thank you to Dr. MohanKumar, Dr. Grooms, Dr. Gunaseelan, Dr.
BhanuRekha, Dr. Giri, Dr. Pawar, Rajendran, Muthu, Vinayagam, Monikum, Dr.
Kannan, and to the USDA for funding this grant. It really has been the experience of a lifetime!
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| The steps to the Jain Temple |
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| The view from those steps |
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| The monolithic statue |
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| Soap temple carvings |
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| Bestest Buddies! |
