Two hours outside of the city, we arrived at Deerland, our first stop. I had not heard of this place until I spoke to a French guy here in Malaysia that was actually pretty excited about it, as he had just returned from Deerland and the elephant center. He mentioned lots of different types of animals in a petting-zoo style, giving us good access to the animals. Once in the gates, we were greeted by about 50 medium sized deer, obviously used to human contact. You are then given a bowl of food to give them, being told to hold the basket up high, so that they don't simply knock it out of your hands. Then, you are supposed to hold the food up as high as you can, and the deer actually stand up on their hind legs and gently take the food from you. In reality, they are very gentle and don't bite your hand, but the first few times that their heads come flying towards your hand are a bit scary, leading many people to just drop their food and run off to the side. Next, we got to hold a tiny hedgehog (not as spiky as I expected), though many in the group were also a little reluctant to do this, so I pushed my way to the front to make sure I got to touch all of the animals on display. After that, we moved on to holding a huge python around our necks and then feeding a large ostrich, letting it pluck the leaves from your hand.
After that, we saw the Malaysian sun bear or spectacled bear, the smallest bear in the world, though probably similar in size to a small to medium sized black bear. In a small enclosure, the bear was just sitting around with one of the workers when we were allowed to enter. Hoping that the bear was as calm as it looked, we got closer, and I was even allowed to touch it. Then, I hand feed it a few pieces of food, and the bear was very calm and polite. Growing a little more trusting, they let me stick out my hand and they poured handfuls of honey into my hand, and the bear licked it straight out of my hand. I couldn't believe that I was able to do this, and I was actually pretty content with this experience already, though we still had the elephant highlight to come. To finish off Deerland, the group of tourists lined up front to back and one of the monkeys was placed at the back of the line. When the guide yelled go, the agile monkey hopped quickly from head to head, making it within seconds up to the front.
We stopped for a quick lunch, then we arrived at the elephant center, just a few minutes down the road. We were supposed to watch an educational video about the center and the area, but the power in the area went out about 10 minutes into the video and without air conditioning or fans, we were allowed to leave the hot room and go see the stars, the elephants. In the front of the park are three small elephants; I don't know how old they are, but they are each about five or six feet tall, eating peanuts and sugar cane out of your hands as they posed for pictures alongside the large groups of tourists. We also got to feed watermelon and bananas to the full sized elephants, four of them hanging around the edge of the park. Then, the main event was riding the elephants around in small circles. As I lined up, our guide quickly came over and tried to explain to me to wait and not do this yet. He mentioned that I should wait for the river portion of it, where you get to bathe the elephants, but I didn't understand why I couldn't do both activities. I was in the front of the line, but after a few minutes of back and forth, I decided to trust him, though we didn't exactly understand, so I, along with one of the young English guys, waited while watching the groups go around in quick circles on the back of the massive elephants.
Finally, when every person had their ride, the guide then appeared again, said a few things in Malaysian to the workers, and we were pushed up the stairs to the top, ready for the next event. Apparently since our guide goes to the park every single day, he has made some friends and some connections there, so he was able to get the premier ride for me, the English guy and the Chinese guy in our group. Instead of a quick ride around in a circle, the three of us piled on to the largest elephant, along with the trainer and headed from the platform through the park and down a fairly steep walkway into the river, all holding on tightly to each other as we felt like we were going to tip forward into the water. We were told beforehand to bring extra clothes and that we'd get wet, but we just didn't know how it would transpire. As the entire park watched, after slowly waddling past the visitors, we entered the shallow river, the elephant was given some command and boom...the elephant fell to its side, dumping us all in the muddy river. As we were going down, the Chinese guy behind me was flailing around, none of us knowing how deep the water was, though it turned out to just be three or four feet deep in most spots. Afterwards, we stayed in the river as they brought down the smaller elephants, and we proceeded to splash water around on them and play around for a little while before the other visitors were allowed to join. Eventually, everyone had a turn to just sit on the elephant and get dumped in the water, but we were really lucky to have been able to get the long ride and first dip in the water. I thanked our guide over and over, but he always responded in his heavy accent, "It's my job." All in all, it was another great day of wildlife interaction, being able to hand feed a bear and elephants, as well as getting a ride and a bath with a huge elephant. The center is a bit touristy and overcrowded, but after an experience like that, it really didn't matter. I even bought two cheap t-shirts after the tour, to help support the center and add to my collection of random travel shirts.
(At Deerland, the friendly deer would literally stand up as you fed them, delicately taking the food right out of your hand, if you were brave enough to hold on. Many people just dropped their buckets of food and ran.)
(I was one of the few that wanted to hold the tiny hedgehog. It wasn't as prickly as I thought it might be, though it did try to poop in my hand, so maybe it has developed a new defense system for tourists.)
(Feeding the ostrich, trying to make him work for his food. Like emus, I'm a little scared of these things. Mostly, I'm just not a huge fan of birds in general.)
(The adorable sun bear. He posed for photos while a few of us gathered around and even got to hand feed him. Apparently hand feeding bears is a good idea. See the next photo for proof.)
(As the trainer pours honey into my hand, the bear is licking it out. This was an incredible experience, since feeding a real bear is more exciting than my childhood tea parties with my teddy bears.)
(Afterwards, we lined up front to back and this little monkey jumped from head to head to head, making it down the line in a matter of seconds, usually while clutching a bottle of honey in one hand.)
(At the Kuala Gandah Elephant Conservation Centre, three smaller elephants greeted us just after entering. As for the land of the rising sun shirt, I get confused with all of these Asian countries.)
(It was really crowded with tourists here, but it's hard to match being able to hand feed baby elephants, so I can't complain too much.)
(After some confusing English, our guide convinced us to wait for the last elephant ride of the day, and it certainly paid off. With his connections, he arranged the longest ride for the three of us, going from the center of the small park down to the river bank...)
(And then into the river...)
(And then collapsing into the water. We knew what was happening beforehand, but that didn't stop the little Chinese guy behind me from flailing frantically as we splashed into the water. This really was an incredible experience. Others got to get on the elephant in the water and be dumped, but our guide was able to help us get the best ride of the day. "Thanks." "It's my job." Repeat.)
(After being dumped, the smaller elephants were herded down into the river, and we were also the first to be able to bathe them.)
(One of the bigger ones trying to steal sugar cane from the other, though he had a perfectly good pile in front of him. Why can't we ever be happy with what we have? Huh, elephant, huh?)
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