Elephant safaris in a plantation? In Sabah, Malaysia, new project lets tourists and pygmy elephants interact at a distance
- Pygmy elephants are critically endangered and their habitats in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo are being cleared for development, agriculture or commercial logging
- A conservation group and softwood plantation are running elephant safaris and using the income to plant a natural corridor to a nature reserve for the elephants
Standing on the open cargo bed of a Toyota Hilux pickup truck, we rock at every bump in a muddy track that cuts through endless well-tended acacias, eucalyptus and the bulbous sprouts of oil palms.
Behind the wheel, ranger Jamaluddin Pase negotiates every bend in the road as if he were hell-bent on reaching the darkening horizon as fast as possible.
“Be patient,” says Bruneian-Pakistani conservationist Shavez Cheema as he bumps against my right shoulder. “They’re certainly big things, but finding them in such a large area, it’s still a bit like chasing the proverbial needle in a haystack.”
We have been playing this game of hide and seek for the best part of an hour-and-a- half and, to be honest, I am ready to stop believing. But then the car slows and a loud roar smothers the noise of the dying engine.
We freeze, hearts thumping in our chests.
“I told you: it’s rare that we don’t find them,” says Cheema, jumping off the truck, camera in hand.
