18/07/2025
"Sometimes, we don’t know what the outcome will be but we follow our heart. In this case, we just plant... and hope they will come …”
I remember the early days, when we first started planting Napier Grass near Tanini Kinabatangan - Sabah, Borneo . We don’t know what to expect. We want to provide food for our elephants and that they will spend more time eating from these pasture rather than venturing into the plantations and the villagers therefore endangering themselves.
It felt like a small effort, a few rows of green, grown with the help of local students, visitors to the area, and our RESPECT, RESPonsible Elephant Conservation Trust team. But we held on to the hope that one day, it would matter.
And now, after just a few short months, the elephants have started coming and returning. They are not just passing through, but actually stopping… grazing… enjoying what we’ve planted.
Seeing them there, and knowing that our collective effort is helping to provide a safe and nourishing space — it’s hard to put into words how much that means. This is not just about grass. It was about coexistence. About showing our visitors — both human and wild — that this land has room for all of us.
Thank you to everyone who planted alongside us. This is your story too.
-Alexander Yee
Managing Director, Nasalis Larvatus Tours Sdn Bhd & Chairman of RESPonsible Elephant Conservation Trust (RESPECT)