December 8
ELEPHANT lovers can observe the livelihood, habitat, behaviour, skeleton and characteristics of the elephants and the house of mahouts at the Elephant Museum opened at the Palin Riverview Elephant Camp under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation in NyaungU Township, Mandalay.
The Elephant Riverview Camp officially began on 28 March 2018, and about 22 elephant camps have been opened in states and regions so far to reinforce the connection between the humans and animals, acknowledge the efforts of the Myanma Timber Enterprise turning the elephants’ camps into tourism destinations, protect elephants from poachers and combat against illegal trafficking, and raise awareness of the ecosystem, said U Aung Htay, assistant general manager of the camp explained.
The history of elephants, the livelihood of Asian elephants, diverse habitats between the Asian and African elephants, the characteristics of elephants, including tusks, their role in maintaining the ecosystem, white elephants and wild elephants, elephant poaching for their tusks and ivory poaching and hunting for elephant parts, smuggling elephant parts in the black market, legal actions for poaching and illegal trade, prevention measures of the wild elephants, how to deal with human-elephant conflict, World Elephant Day, elephant training processes, taming, how to classify the retired tuskers and the logging elephants depending on age and capacity, elephant care and mahout training, the documentary of elephant twins and words that mahouts use to tame the elephants are showcased at the museum, U Myo Min Ko elaborated. The visitors can also observe the equipment used in controlling elephants, staff housing compound, the elephant register book, the elephant care manual and the handbooks for the staff, different ivory tusks, skin and tails, the skeleton of a 56-year-old elephant, the uniform of the mahout, elephant taming process and the livelihood of the mahout.
A local visitor is charged K1,000 while the entry fee for a tourist is K5,000. The elephant ride costs K5,000 for a local traveller and K10,000 for a tourist. The feed for elephants costs K1,000 per tray. The visitors can visit the elephant museum free of charge.
Enjoying the scenic view of the Ayeyawady River, there is a 130 feet long and eight feet wide bridge at the camp, with 83 teak posts.
There are seven elephants at Palin Riverview Elephant Camp. Myanmar implemented elephant-based tourism, developed eco-tourism sites and opened elephant camps near rivers and mountain ranges.—Ko Htein(KPD)/GNLM
