An Elephant Santuary

About 150 km or no more than 2 hours drive from Kuala Lumpur lies Kuala Gandah Elephant Santuary.  

The sanctuary is managed by the Malaysian Department of Wildlife and National Parks. A base for the Elephant Relocation Team which started in 1974. Being the only centre in Malaysia, the team is dedicated to locating, subduing, translucent problem elephants from areas where their habitats are constantly being encroached by plantations, to Malaysia's National Parks such as Taman Negara.  

Over the past 25 years the team has successfully relocated around 400 elephants to national parks, bringing the wild elephant population in Malaysia from an alarming low of 500 to about 1200 (2003). The santuary offers visitors a hands-on introduction and an up close encounter to the largest mammal on earth. Visitors can feed, ride the elephants and help bath  them in the shallow river. The juniors have sense of humour, so watch out for a dunking as you try to clamber up their backs!