India

Day 16 : Aluva, India

                                                                   How To Give an Elephant a Bath

 We ended up back in Cochin for a night in order to work around some flights. Seeing we've already been here we searched out something to do off the beaten path.  We woke up earlier than we wanted to to catch a cab from Cochin to Aluva for a 2 hour ride into the hills.  

After walking down a residential jungle road we reached the river to watch the elephants get their morning bath. Elephants are an integral part of Indian mythology and culture. Once a part  of every day life in Kerala, elephants are the most ornamental and auspicious animals here. Kodanad, set on the Southern banks of the Periyar River amid the beautiful high ranges near Perumbavoor, is one of the largest natural elephant preserves. Twice daily the elephants come down from the hills to bathe where men who have dedicated their lives through their church bathe 1 elephant they have formed a bond with since it was born. One man to one elephant until one of them dies first.

The Indian elephants are sooo huge
Washing poo off a baby elephant
We always thought elephant feet were squishy -
Like Mom always said, Make sure you get behind the ears...

Just us and About 5 guys in large cloth diapers giving bath time fun to a herd of massively huge animals.
They cut a coconut in quarters and soak it until its squishy. Then they scrub the hell out of it...for about an hour and a half - EVERY MORNING. They really do love elephants there. They are worshiped, so they take it very seriously.
Check out the pics. Sooo cool to be able to do.

 

Of course we have to get the posey picture
See - Huge!
So how badly do you want one of these right now?
Ok, Bri, for my birthday.......?

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