So the place we are volunteering is called the Millenium Elephant Foundation. It's right next to Pinnawala but unlike Pinnawala it's focus is primarily on conservation rather than on tourism. All the elephants at MEF are temple elephants which means they are owned by various temples around Sri Lanka and are used for festivals and other ceremonies. The elephant that i work with is called Raja, he's a tusker (has tusks, because not all male Asian elephants have tusks- who would have known?!?) who worked at the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy (we're going there on Saturday!), but last year he fell during a festival and broke his leg. So he's now retired and his leg is mended, although it's bent a lot more now because I don't think it was set properly (although, how does one set an elephants leg???). He's got the most gorgeous face though and he's huge! Tiffany and I go up in the morning and have to count all the dung balls in his night nest, we have to keep record so that when the vet comes he can make sure everything's normal. Then afterwards we have to bathe him in the river. The mahout gets the elephant to lie down in the water (apparently they know around 30 commands!) and then we use a coconut cut in half to scrub him....I'll have to upload a picture soon!
On a side note---Tiffany, Tom, and I heard there is a Pizza Hut in Kandy so we are heading there this weekend because we can't eat any more rice and bread! American food here we come!
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