Journey to Highland Farm.

So, after a good night’s sleep, and a long soak in a hot bath, I caught my bus to Mae Sot at 9am. Mae Sot is about half way up through Thailand towards the Western border with Burma/Myanmar. I was surprised at just how flat the interior of Thailand is, miles and miles of agricultural land broken up by the occasional random hill in the distance. Due to the impact of agriculture and deforestation for hardwoods and firewood, Thailand now has less than 15% of its primary tropical forest left. As you can imagine, this leaves very little space for the amazing wildlife found here. Tigers used to be in abundance, Asian Elephants were everywhere and of course the Gibbons could be found going about their business.
Towards the end of my journey I had nodded off, I was stirred by the bus changing gears and we seemed to be going very slowly uphill. On drawing back the curtain I realized that we were heading up into mountains surrounded by Forest. The views were spectacular and the roads were winding. After an hour or so we descended into the wild frontier town of Mae Sot. As it is only 6km from the border with Burma it is filled with a rich mix of Burmese and Thai people but also members of the local hill-tribes, the Karen and the Hmong. The hill-tribes people live in the mountains between Burma and Thailand but they do not recognise the border. This can lead to conflict with both governments and so Mae Sot has a big population of Farang (foreigners) working for western NGO’s assisting the refugees that arrive here. This lead me to one of the strangest sights so far; a giant Tescos!!!
I arrived at the bus station around 5.30pm just as the sun was going down into Burma/Myanmar. I was met by Pharanee Deters, the owner of Highland Farm Gibbon sanctuary. She was accompanied by 2 Dutch guests (Peter and Siebrecht) who had just arrived for a few days and Stephanie, a volunteer at the sanctuary. Pharanee took us all into the town and bought us dinner at a place with a surprisingly varied menu. It was a mix of Thai, American, English, Italian and even Mexican. I had a go at the Tofu steak, which was actually much more tasty than it sounds.
Pharanee is originally from Thailand but she had lived in the States for many years. This was where she met her husband Bill in 1974. Upon his retirement, in 1991, they bought up 35 acres of barren land near Mae Sot. They started to build a house from scratch and replant the land with trees and a few crops. It was during these early days that they came across their first Gibbon in need of help.
Unfortunately certain hill-tribes in this area do actually hunt Gibbons for their meat. One day a man called to their, as yet unfinished, door and offered them a baby Gibbon for sale. They were reluctant to pay money as this only encourages the trade but he was threatening to sell it to a bar in Bangkok. There it would have been doomed to live a short life chained to a bar and made to smoke and drink for the amusement of the customers. In the end they agreed to pay 500 Baht for it, around $15 at today’s exchange rate. This was the last time they ever paid for a Gibbon. They named the young baby Chester. It is difficult to tell the sex of a baby Gibbon and so he later became Miss Chester. This was the beginning of the sanctuary; abused and mistreated Gibbons started arriving from all over Thailand. They were having to build homes for the Gibbons even before they had finished work on their own!
Sadly, in 2002, Bill along with 4 other people was murdered by a disgruntled ex-employee who had broken in to rob the house. Pharanee was away in Bangkok at the time and on her return was faced with an awful decision. Move away for her own well being or stay for the Gibbons and carry on their dream. She chose the hardest option and stayed.



So, after dinner we headed up highway 105 towards Highland Farm and once again I arrived at my destination in the dark. Pharanee showed me to my room, which I was amazed at. It is a long room above the food preparation area, en suite with a flushing toilet and a hot shower! There is also a fridge and my own coffee making area. All luxuries that I would not have expected but I suppose I will just have to get used to them! It is also much cooler here then at the WFFT rescue centre; we are around 860m above sea level, so I sleep soundly.
Keri ;o)