点评:We spent an afternoon with the elephants at Kulen Forest. It was one of the highlights of our trip to Cambodia. There were 6 of us in total , the only group there that afternoon.We had an enthusiastic , knowledgeable and personable guide, Seth who spoke excellent English and also had a brilliant line in cheesy English jokes. We wish him well in his future ambition to become an official Cambodian guide and would highly recommend him. We were picked up from the company’s office in downtown Siem Reap and transported by minibus to the sanctuary. On arrival we had refreshments while we were briefed in safety procedures and rules and educated about the elephants and the ethos of the mission to promote elephant conservation and eventually breeding in Cambodia in general and specifically about the 10 retired elephants who call the Kulen Elephant Forest home.
We then made snacks of rice ,bananas, bran and vitamins to give to the elephants alongside buckets of bananas, pumpkin and sugar cane. We all had plenty of opportunities to feed snacks to the elephants then walk through the grounds with them and their mahouts. All activities were led by the elephants .At no time did we see any maltreatment of the elephants, despite occasional previous reviews, and I was being vigilant for any evidence of this. We then had some fruity snacks ourselves while watching the elephants bathe . We closely interacted with 2 of the elephants,seeing 7 in total and learnt all about their friendship groups and behaviours.We ended the afternoon hosing down the elephants to cool off and gave them some water to drink with the hoses before being driven back to town.An unforgettable experience.
翻译:我们在库伦森林与大象共度了一个下午。这是我们柬埔寨之旅的亮点之一。我们一共六个人,是那天下午唯一的团队。我们的导游是塞斯,他热情、知识渊博、亲切,英语说得很好,还能讲一口流利的英语笑话。我们祝愿他未来成为柬埔寨官方导游的梦想成真,并强烈推荐他。我们从暹粒市中心的公司办公室出发,乘坐小巴前往保护区。抵达后,我们享用了茶点,同时学习了安全程序和规则,并了解了大象以及促进柬埔寨大象保护和繁殖的使命精神,特别是关于库伦大象森林里十头退役大象的介绍。然后,我们做了米饭、香蕉、麸皮和维生素作为零食喂给大象,还有一桶桶香蕉、南瓜和甘蔗。我们有很多机会给大象喂零食,然后和它们以及象夫一起在场地里散步。所有活动都由大象主导。尽管之前偶尔有人评论说大象会受到虐待,但我们从未见过任何虐待大象的行为,我一直保持警惕,留意任何虐待大象的证据。之后,我们自己也吃了一些水果零食,同时观看大象洗澡。我们与其中两头大象进行了亲密互动,总共看到了七头大象,了解了它们的友谊群体和行为。下午,我们用水管给大象浇凉,并给它们喝了些水,然后开车回镇上。这是一次难忘的经历。