Day 25

We woke early at 7.30 for the elephants bath. Once again making the not so short journey along the goat ridden dusty road. Joined by a man from slovakia and a woman from Poland, our guide leads us down to the river, following the 8 elephants as they walk single file, each holding the leading elephants tail by their nose, whilst the baby ran around as he wished,

We was each handed a firm brush, whilst the elephants stampeded into the river, rolling onto their sides, we was encourage to join them and get to work. We scrubed away for 20 minutes whilst the elephants lay half submerged, rooting around the riverbed with their trunk, occasionally spraying water at some innocent bystander.

Things got exciting when the food came out, the baby became very friendly, using his nose to demand fruit, whilst all the other elephants stood patiently and waited their turn for a snack.

We met our buddy Suka at midday to be escourted to our car. He fed us more stories about the beliefs of the local people, the traditional stories relating to the jungle and their 'harmony' with nature. he encouraged us to spread the word of Tangkahan and what they are trying to achieve.

Greeted by destinctive smell of an Indonesian city, a combination of cigarette smoke, food and sewage, we arrive back in the Anarchy of Medan. After receiving respectable results from uni, and Sarah being awarded a 2:1 in her degree , wee celebrate with a couple of Bingtang largers outside of our homestay.

Elephant helps remove Sarah's body odour