Into the wild

Christmas was celebrted this year despite being in Thailand. I spent Christmas at the centre eating and drinking myself into a state of zombie. I shall be taking it easy for a while I think.

waterfall nap rock

My gift to myself was a two day trip into Keang Krachan, the national park nearby. I camped there and did a 16 km trek on the first day. We walked down to several spots along the waterfall past some huge old trees and great views. The waterfall was beautiful and I got to swim in the amazing clear water and have the best nap ever on a large rock (wouldn't have thought it could be so comftable)

leaping langur

One off the many pretty butterfies

The horrendous walk back to the campsite was worthwhile as I saw a wild great horbil and several families of langurs which was amazing. They throw themselves into nearby trees with what looks like no planning and let the trees break their fall. It was good to see them being free and wild and I loved it. The sunset and sunrise was impressive, had I had more energy I would have witnessed more of them. The second day was more relaxed with a picnic by the lake and stroll through a butterfly area. We also discovered wild leeches and what must be the most annoying sounding bug in universe, but all in all a great trip.


sunset

sunrise



Velocirickens and Chickaraptors

These are a rare throwback to the time of dinosaurs. The Velociraptors were rife in Thailand and in the name of survival grew smaller and disguised there scales with feathers so they could live amoung the chickens without being hunted down by people who feared dinosaurs.  

And if you believe that you'll believe anything. These are apparently normal Thai chickens that happen to look and walk (sorry no video) like dinosaurs. They have freakishly long legs and necks and have kept me very entertained since their arival at the centre two weeks ago. Little things...

Tis the season

This is also the season of celebrations in Thailand. The last full moon was Loi Kratong, a Thai festival that takes place at the end of the Thai lunar year. We made Kratongs out of sections of banana trees and decorated them with flowers, leaves, incense and a candle. We then lit them at night and floated them into the lake. Its beautiful and supposed to send away all the sins of the previous year and welcome the new one in. I love this festival and enjoyed watching all the decorated lights go off into the lake (don't worry, non of the gibbons on the islands got hold of them). Today is also the kings 83rd birthday and we will be celebrating in the village by lighting a candle for him. We are ment to wear pink to respect the king and blue to respect the queen. I like the lack of western colour sexism.

Animal news includes the fact that I have finally been allowed to work on Primates 1 and spend some time with my gibbons. I've loved every minute of it but my appreciation of the macaques and bears is still growing all the time. My faviorite part of the day is enrichments when you get to use your creativity to make something to entertain the animals you are working with. I've had some success with new ideas and get to watch the animals try to figure out what you've given them and what they are supposed to do with it.

Enriching Ollie the otter is fun and also the only time in the day when he is quiet.

Three gibbons from one of the islands, mum, dad and baby got moved up to the release site last month. They will be given a soft release back into the wild and a new couple has moved to the island from the centre. This was great to see and will be great for the gibbon family.

A less enjoyable thing to watch yesterday was June, the oldest elephant at the centre. She is 70 has lost her last set of teeth and came into the centre 5 months ago incredably thin and covered in sores. She has put on a lot of weight since being at the centre but doesnt have much strength in her legs. Yesterday for the 5th time she collapsed and had to be lifted by a crane. These collapses are becoming furthur apart and the ordeal of lifting her is becoming easier and quicker everytime, so she is improving in some ways. She gets a lot of special care and is doing much better today.

I am still working on getting some pictures on the blog. Hopfully in the next couple of weeks. Will update again soon.