Location : Temerloh, Pahang, Malaysia.
The drive from Triang to NECC at Kuala Gandah was a pleasant drive passing thru small towns like Kerayong, Temerloh, Mentakab and Lanchang along the way and numerous Malay villages as well.
As we turned in from Lanchang towards NECC we noticed a Malay homestay and decided to check out the place with 3 huge fish ponds and several chalets which we discovered to our disappointment, have been left abandoned. They have instead concentrated on rentingout rooms in their own house where the family was staying in. At only RM50 a night and fishing to go with it I think it’s a good deal. Further down the road we stopped at 2 of the Orang Asli resettlements.
Managed to catch a short chat with one of the families before rushing off to the Jumbo Showtime at 2pm.
Was greeted with a pleasant surprise at the size of the sanctuary and how well organised/maintained the place was. It was a busy Sunday with well over a hundred foreign tourists. Feeding peanuts to the 2 baby jumbos was quite an experience and found out they do throw tantrums when they did not get enough of what they wanted. They maybe small but their thunderous trumpets sent shivers down my spine!
The show started off with the elephants taking their daily bath in the shallow river that flowed thru the sanctuary. After which 2 compeers presented the adult elephant talent show consisting of simple jumbo tricks. 
The oldest female at 73 years old and partially blind was brought in from Myanmar since day one to help rehabilitate wild elephants found ‘encroaching’ on plantations brought about by man’s development & trespassing on jumbo’s territory. There are a total of 21 of them and some are still undergoing taming lessons. Feeding time was quite a frenzy for the tourists who were given baskets of fruits for a hands on experience. Even before feeding time was up people were already queuing up for the next event – jumbo ride.
As a matter of surprise all these activities including entrance are all FOC! The compeer did remind us though donations were very much welcomed for the upkeep of the sanctuary. With so much fun here it should be made a punishable crime for any Malaysian not to come here and contribute their share…. LOL. Forget about Chiangmai please.
To see more photos please click here
For location, please click marker on attached map:
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Thank you very much for this excellent web site – very informative and entertaining….before reading it i thought one had to travel to Thailand to see elephants….but now (thanks to your website) i know that Malaysia also operates elephant santuraries and one can see and experience the same things without travelling all the way to Northern Thailand. Awaiting more excellent info from Bombastic Borneo…..
Jay Blakeney
Canadian living/working in Sarawak Malaysia
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You are so kind Jay, tnx.