The Center for Elephant Conservation, as a part of the International Elephant Foundation, is helping in efforts to provide emergency veterinary care, supplies, equipment, elephant health care and management training to Indonesian mahouts (elephant trainers) in Sumatra, Indonesia. The CEC sponsored Heidi Riddle's efforts in Sumatra, and this is part one of her four-part diary of her experience. To read more about these efforts, click here.

Traveling light in Sumatra! Heidi Riddle and some of the more than 500 pounds of medical supplies brought by the International Elephant Foundation team for the elephants of Sumatra. (Photo: Dr. Susan Mikota)

Day 1 -- Thursday, August 3, 2000: We arrived in Medan, a city in the northeastern part of Sumatra, and were met at the airport by a representative from Fauna and Flora International (FFI), who helped us go through customs with all the medical supplies we brought to donate to the elephants. We then went to the FFI office, where we had the opportunity to meet the rest of the FFI team that would be assisting us during our stay in Sumatra, as well as several officials: the Medan Zoo veterinarian, the Medan Zoo manager, and two local veterinarians. They helped us acquire additional supplies that would be needed for the camp elephants. We then distributed and re-packed the 500 pounds of supplies we brought with us so that we had equal shares for each of the Elephant Conservation Centers (ECC) we would be visiting. In late afternoon, we left for the airport to take a flight to Jakarta, a city on the tip of the island of Java. There are few direct-route flights within Sumatra, so it is necessary to transit via Jakarta.

Day 2 -- Friday, August 4: In the morning, we flew from Jakarta to Bengkulu, a small city on the western coast of Sumatra. It is a very pretty city right on the ocean, and I could see some damage to buildings from an earthquake one month earlier. We were met by a senior official of the Forestry Department of Bengkulu Province, who accompanied us to the elephant camp. After stopping to purchase some food supplies, we traveled to the Elephant Conservation Center at Seblat, about a four-hour drive. Access into the ECC is not easy, and we arrived there in early evening. The last couple of miles we walked down a gravel road to the river. The elephant camp sits on a hillside across the river. There had been a bridge, but over a year ago it was washed out in a flood, so we rode on elephant back across the river and up the hill to the base camp. It was dark and starting to rain when we crossed the river, so that made the ride a bit of an adventure! Our supplies were also transported on elephant back across the river. We stayed that night at the camp, in some of the elephant mahout (trainer) lodging. With the ECC manager and staff, we discussed how we would proceed with our assessment of the elephants the next day.

Day 3 -- Saturday, August 5: We spent the day at the ECC Seblat. It is a beautiful site, overlooking the river and the fields of small crops and huts on the other side. Behind the camp is thick forest, which is also inhabited by wild elephants, tiger, and tapirs. This is a good site for an elephant camp, as there is plenty of forage in the forest and clean water in the river for the elephants to drink and bathe in. Here we evaluated 30 camp elephants. We collected blood samples from each one, gave them worm medication in fresh papayas, and treated some minor abscesses. We also unloaded and inventoried the donated supplies we brought, and discussed with the camp manager, the veterinary technician, and the mahouts the use of the supplies. We left the camp in late afternoon. It gets dark early in Sumatra (about 6:30 p.m., as it is on the Equator), and we wanted to start back to Bengkulu while it was still light. We rode an elephant back across the river, then drove to Bengkulu where we stayed that night.

Days 1-3 | Days 4-6 | Days 7-9 | Days 10-12