Two Rhino But No Elephants!

We heard at dinner that 30 elephants had been sighted by yesterday’s group. The pressure is on. We want to see the pygmy Sumatran Elephant….

They migrate through this area of rainforest. We go downstream fast, looking carefully at all the areas of elephant grass. We see flattened areas. We see heaps of elephant dung. We can even smell elephants.

But they have moved on.

We ask other boatmen. They say in Malay “no we have not seen them”. We ask the locals who say they crossed yesterday.  We are a bit dejected but on the way back we get a fantastic sight. A rhinoceros hornbill in a tree- clearly visible. He has a huge bill. Then he flies across the river to his mate. They are paired for life and spend all their time together.

On the last day, we still hadn’t seen the pygmy Sumatran elephant. Winston is there to see us off. “You only see the elephants in the afternoon” he says. “They come to cool down when the forest is too hot.”   We hope they have not all read the same book as him!  Then suddenly, as we are departing at 08.30,  the speedboat veers to the left and the cry of “elephant” goes up. We spot a lone bull. We drive our boat down a creek and come face to face with him in the water. He slowly climbs the bank and does a couple of turns for us.  It’s a terrific parting shot and caps a fantastic stay.

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