The outbreak of COVID - 19 on Bali has certainly been one of the greatest adversities I've ever had to face in my 50 years of business.
I had to remind myself constantly during the last 18 months that this too shall pass and focus on turning the adversity into equal or greater benefits.
One of the greatest benefits that my family and I derived from this pandemic is the fact that tourists virtually disappeared from most of Bali's major tourist attractions.
Last year we explored many areas of Bali including magnificent waterfalls that we normally wouldn't have gone to because we don't like crowds.
Often we took the initiative to be the first there in the morning, so we had the waterfalls all to ourselves.
We had the same experience when we explored Bali's Island of Nusa Penida and experienced all its attractions.
A few weeks ago, sadly one of Bali’s most famous business families announced that they could use some help with feeding 31 elephants at the famous Mason Elephant Park.
I've known the owners Yanie and Nigel Mason for most of the 23 years I've lived in Bali.
I dined at Yanie's restaurant in Kuta before the turn of the century when it was a landmark with its colourful, talkative Parrots.
I've often experienced their famous river rafting and a few other facilities that they offer including the Mason Elephant Park.
When one of my wealthier friends, a doctor from Hollywood wanted to go on a helicopter ride we enjoyed the Masons very high tech, professionally piloted helicopter around southern Bali.About the Mason Elephant Park.
The Mason Elephant Park. Initiated in 1997 and set within the misty hinterlands of Ubud, the Mason Elephant Park was created in response to the devastating situation in Sumatra where rampant deforestation and poaching has dwindled the native elephant population. 
The park provides guests with the rare opportunity to interact and learn about these gentle giants while giving our healthy herd a comfortable and safe environment to call home.
The park is set within 4 hectares and has been carefully landscaped to mimic the original habitat of our elephant’s native home in Sumatra.
The location in central Bali was also chosen for its cooler climate and lush environment, which helps to keep our elephants cool and comfortable in this tranquil landscape.
Once in a Lifetime visit:
My family had never experienced the Elephant Park, so I thought why not contribute to feeding the elephants while at the same time providing entertainment for my family that is a unique in a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
I doubt if there will ever be a time in the future when you can go to Mason Elephant Park and enjoy all the facilities and the elephants with only a few others around.
I also doubt you will ever be able to secure prices that are over 50% or more below normal prices for their facilities, the elephant encounters and especially their magnificent lodgings.
Last Minute Decision:
We waited until the last moment to make the reservations because we are entering the rainy season and on Friday of this week we had a downpour.
I certainly did not want to visit the elephants under those conditions.
So yesterday on Saturday the 13th the skies cleared and off we went on a 1- & 1/2-Hour Drive up to the remote village of Taro.
The drive up to Taro was a wonderful experience.
Especially when it was during the special Bali celebration of Galungan and the villages are decorated with huge Penjors which are a phallic symbol.
Day 1:
After the lovely drive we finally arrived.
The first stop was their restaurant where we took a few Photos of the elephants bathing.
Then we were escorted to our room in the Taro suite.
The decor was tropical.Tarzan and Jane would've felt right at home.
We even had our own private elephant, Dina teetered outside our balcony which I fell in love with.
We began a relationship which lasted for 24 hours, and I fell in love with her. 
I first started throwing her some fruit from the balcony and later went down to hand feed her.
Each time she would see me she would raise her trunk and show me her lips as if to give me a big smile.
At 6:30 PM promptly two elephants showed up at our front door to take us to the restaurant for dinner. 
Our two boys mounted the other which were driven by two guides who took us on a short journey down to their lovely restaurant.
There was only two other couples there at the time.
The menu prices were very reasonable and the food was far beyond my expectations.
One of the menu items was a Duck dish which is a popular dish in Bali but not one of my favourites.
So I asked the Chef if he could just simply provide me a crispy duck? Which he agreed.
When it arrived and I had my first taste I was in duck heaven.
I commented later to Yanie Mason, one of the owners, that it was the best crispy duck I've ever had in Bali, in fact probably in the world.
It was tender and juicy and much more ample than most crispy ducks in Bali.
I will certainly come back for this dish alone.
The starters of breaded Calamari Vietnamese Rolls were also delicious..
My two boys had Soto Ayam.
I can't remember what Azizah had as I was too involved in my own dish.
Later we went back to the room and the boys watched TV and played with their phones. 
Azizah filled the enormous two person Jacuzzi.
I turned on the TV and watched an interesting series of programs that show the history of the Mason Elephant Park.
It goes all the way back to 1999 when the first elephants were imported from Sumatra.
The last batch of elephants were imported several years ago.
Nigel Mason had to bring them I believe 2,400 km from the Island of Sumatra without unloading them from the truck directly to Bali.
The adversities they had along the way which they overcame makes for a great story itself.
I discovered in the documentaries that Samartian elephants are smaller than their African brothers.
There's only approximately a thousand remaining in the wild.
Most of them are used for logging or are pests to farmers and therefore enduring harsh lives on Sumatra.
Later it was time for a good night sleep.
Day 2:
The next morning I woke up to this scene of a tropical jungle with many elephants.
See Dina do an early morning dance with the crickets singing 
We went for an early morning walk around the park with not a single person in sight.
Later we roused our boys and had a breakfast which was very filling and delicious.
She put her bathing suit on and proceeded on top of the elephant into the 3 m pool. The elephant completely submersed himself .
We had seen a baby earlier and asked if we could feed her and they brought her out.
Kristna was a naughty two-year-old. 
If we didn't feed her she would try to force you to do so.
But we were prepared as we had gone to the store and purchased lots of treats such as nuts etc.
We posted a live Facebook post with both Azizah and I and our son Darius feeding her as well with her Mother Eva.
Then Eva, her mother, presented my wife Azizah with her own flower ring.
The Elephant Activities included: Washing & Bathing of the elephants, one time Elephant Ride, feeding the Elephants, access to the Elephant Baby Nursery, access to the Elephant Museum & Gallery. 
We continued with the elephants trail ride for approximately 20 minutes.
See Video of us On the Elephant trail ride.
The guide dropped us off at our front door with the elephants.
All in all, it was a very thrilling, unusual and rewarding 24 hours with the elephants at the famous Mason Elephant Park.
I highly recommend that those of you that live in Bali or are fortunate enough to visit here from other parts of Indonesia right now and those of you that will arrive here in the coming weeks rush up to take part in enjoying this unique inexpensive once-in-a-lifetime opportunity before the tourists return in droves.
Many thanks to Yanie and Nigel Mason who not only provided us a very attractive rate but more so for providing Bali and the world with this haven for over 30 endangered elephants so generations in the future can enjoy them and interact with them.
Nigel and Yanie are strong believers in Karma. What you put out in this world you get back equal or many times more.
I Highly suggest you call Tina at +62 811-3960-4979 who has done a magnificent job on securing our reservation.
Tell her Lawrence recommended you and maybe you'll get a special discount depending on demand.
Interview with Yanni & Nigel Mason.
Below is an interview recently with Yanie and Nigel Mason regarding their past which is itself a testimony to their achieving the highest echelon of our Industry.
ADVENTURE Of A LIFETIME
GO BEHIND THE SCENES OF BALI’S MOST SUCCESSFUL ADVENTURE-BASED COMPANY, AS CO-CREATORS AND TOUR DE FORCE, YANIE & NIGEL MASON, TALK TO ASIA DREAMS ABOUT WORKING HARD, TAKING RISKS, AND BELIEVING IN GOOD KARMA. 
ASIA DREAMS: You were born in England, spent part of your childhood in Egypt and ventured to Australia at age 15 with the Big Brother Boys Movement. Please tell us about that.
Nigel: The Big Brothers Boys Movement was mostly invented for orphans after the war as many kids were without families, so the program invited kids from Europe to live in Australia.
As a teenager in the 1950s in London, let’s just say I got into a fair bit of trouble.
I knew there was no future for me there, so I talked my mum into letting me go to Australia.
The experience wasn’t what was promised, nor was it what I expected. We didn’t end up working on a farm learning valuable skills, instead it was slave labour, so I escaped and travelled the country on my own, nearly getting caught by the organisation a few times. After two years, I was free and settled in Melbourne.
ASIA DREAMS: Please tell us about your days in the music industry, rubbing shoulders in the 1960s with The Beatles and Rolling Stones?
Nigel: A friend of mine worked at EMI music recording company. I bumped into him one day and he told me about a possible job opportunity. I waited for him to get back to me, but he never did. So, out of sheer bravado, I walked into their main office during a weekly meeting and said that I was there to apply for the job I heard about. The manager said applications were closed and I replied: well, that’s not a very smart thing to do; you haven’t interviewed the best guy yet! He must have liked that because I got the interview and that night I received a call to start work on Monday. I scored a huge record album collection from that position and a friend just told me that one of my Bob Dylan albums is worth US $37,000 today.
ASIA DREAMS: You first ventured to Bali in 1980 to take a break from the rat race. What was Bali like back then?
Nigel: Very different. Very relaxed. Very unspoilt. There were hardly any motorbikes, no cars, the odd truck; it was easy. I had lots of time on the beach, stayed in a losmen called Kortis for 1,500-rupiahs per night – including breakfast! Yanie’s cousin ran the losmen and we eventually met three years after I arrived. We opened Yanie’s restaurant in Legian and made great food. It grew into a very popular pub with people lined up to get into the place, many of our customers today at Bali Adventure Tours remember us from those days. We closed Yanie’s to focus on developing a new adventure-based concept on the land we had purchased along the Ayung River in 1989. Tourists were floating down on inner tubes back then and we were inspired to start a professional rafting company.
ASIA DREAMS: Bali Adventure Tours is one of Bali’s most successful businesses today. What did the early days look like?
Nigel: After we bought our land, we began searching the river for another spot where we could actually get guests down to the water. Eventually we did and we put in several hundred steps, making it very safe and only buying the best quality equipment. We did quite a bit of promotion overseas and before we knew it, we were guiding 300 – 400 guests every day. Our only competitor back then became quite jealous of our success. One day they took the then governor rafting and convinced him to make the statement: “one river one rafting company”. They closed us down and we lost everything, we had to let over 200 employees go. That governor ended up going to jail and after 2 ½ years, we managed to get back on our feet. I’m a great believer in karma and if you do the right thing the right thing will happen to you. Our professional reputation is that of being incorruptible and we have raised our boys with that mind-set. 
ASIA DREAMS: Your work with elephants is internationally recognised and was even admired by the late Steve Irwin. What sparked your family’s love of elephants?
Nigel: As fate would have it, I was just sitting in my office one day and my secretary told me that a guy was downstairs waiting to see me. He had nine elephants in Bali and wanted to set up a trekking operation but had no capital. So he came to me and asked me to buy them and I offered to take a look. We drove to Taro, where the Elephant Safari Park & Lodge is today, and we travelled down an atrocious road that led to a dried out rice paddy.
Yanie and I talked about adding the elephant concept to our adventure tours, to help us diversify, and somehow the bank reluctantly decided to lend us the money to do it. The elephants were going to die without our help, and after saving the lot we started to rescue more. A film called Operation Jumbo has been distributed worldwide about our rescue efforts. We turned that barren landscape where the elephants barely existed into the lush nature park it is today. I’ve always had a green thumb, so it was really a natural fit for me.
ASIA DREAMS: You don’t seem content resting on your laurels. What is happening with Bali Adventure Tours today and what is your vision for the future?
Nigel: We just opened a multi-million dollar adventure centre in Kedewatan, Ubud near the Kupu Kupu Barong hotel where our rafting headquarters is located. It’s truly a world-class destination for families, residents and visitors alike. We have re-opened Yanie’s restaurant – a much bigger, five-star version with a sushi bar and stunning canopy rooftop area for relaxing and enjoying the view. We have a beautiful Japanese spa, a bakery, delicatessen, and a large retail shop, House of Yanie, which was also very successful back in the day.
The rafting operation is hands down the best in Bali; very streamlined, electronic bracelets for locker access, imported rafts specially ordered from New Zealand, life jackets that fit two-year-olds on up to the largest men, an evacuation heli-pad on the roof and an emergency sick bay staffed by a professional nurse. We always strive to be the best, not the second best. We set high standards for the industry as a whole and our efforts were nationally recognised recently with a Cipta Award, given to us for our commitment to operate as sustainably as possible. Elephant Safari Park & Lodge has received the ‘Certificate of Excellence’ award for the last four years from TripAdvisor and that’s recognition we could never buy.
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