day 10: elephant trekking

day 10

we woke up, had our usual breakfast and then waited on the front porch of our b&b for our ride to pick us up.  when the truck pulled up, we hopped inside and joined 7 other guys from the UK.  we all squeezed into the back of the truck and headed on our way to the mountains for an all day adventure of elephant trekking, hiking, waterfall swimming, and white water rafting.

first was the elephant trekking.  it was a 45 minute trek through the jungle.  the elephants carried us through a ravine and up alongside a narrow trail on a mountain.  afterwards we were all served lunch and then headed out for hiking.

the hike was probably the best hike i have ever done.  it was a two hour hike on a narrow path that ran alongside a raging river.  we were given hiking sticks at the beginning of the hike.  at first i thought that it was a cute idea, but then i realized that we would need those sticks in order to save our lives.

the water was abnormally high due to monsoon season.  at several different times on our hike we had to cross the river by balancing on a small log that had been thrown from one side to the other.  we had to climb over boulders, weave in and out of tree roots that had been uprooted and blocking the trail, and jump from rock to slippery rock that was in the river and part of the trail.  it rained for the whole duration of our hike, so the trail was really muddy and rarely visible.  my walking stick saved me from sliding in the mud and down the cliff into the river.  eventually the hike led us to a gigantic waterfall.


below is a picture of one of the log contraptions we had to balance on to cross the river.

after our hike we headed to another part of the same river to go white water rafting.  this was probably my favorite part.  we had fun group on our raft and we raced the other rafts down the river.

later that night we met up with all the same guys that went on the adventure with us.  we went to a reggae bar and hung out and eventually danced the night away.