Jono, Ben & Megan - The Podcast - FULL SHOW: Will Ben risk his life for a podcast?

Episode Date: May 20, 2025

On today’s show:  What you can learn about an elephant from its dun Jono has way too much DJ power...  The most exotic animal you’ve ever come across – “I had to lie down and play dead”  Why Megan’s husband is suspicious about her location Ben’s awkward tipping encounter Megan dares the boys to test what the Dilmahs “get-everything” guy can actually get Instagram: @THEHITSBREAKFASTFacebook: The Hits Breakfast with Jono, Ben & MeganSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Jono, Ben and Megan podcast, thanks to Dilma. Goodness really does taste great. Dilma, making the world a better tea. Welcome to the podcast. Midweek from our Sri Lankan shows, coming to you from the jungle, literally in the jungle. It feels like, every time I say it, it feels like it's a huge lie,

but no, we're actually in the jungle. Should we do a thing? Because we're not allowed to leave our rooms without actually someone from the hotel staff walking us because there is worry that leopards, snakes, allowed to leave our rooms without actually someone from the hotel staff walking us because there is worry that uh leopards snakes scorpions yeah any number of things could kill you maim you injure you hospitalize you no i'm not going to see if you could just do a loop of the tent

and he's like oh my, there's a leopard. We'll feel so bad. Yeah, there's a crocodile. What were they doing? What were they? Oh, he was doing a loop. Was it primetime radio? No, it was for the podcast.

He's like, I'll do it for primetime, not for the potty. I'll definitely get you. We'll definitely replay it tomorrow morning, though, Megan, wouldn't we? yeah we'll give you a 10 past 6 replay in the morning our condolences to

his family he was a good man he was a nervous man great radio bit there he loved it he always knew he was going to go out attacked by an animal in a jungle he was going to go out. Attacked by an animal in a jungle.

He was worried about this. This is exactly what happened. Okay, well, that's not going to happen. Ashley, who's with us, will you do it? Ashley, will you walk around the tent? No, she's not enjoying it. No. And I'm certainly not going to do it.

I don't want to lose Ashley. Would you do it? It's really night time, too. Like, honestly, it's like 1 o'clock in the morning. Yeah, no, it's probably not a good time to do it. You're asking everyone, John. Why don't want to lose ashley would you do it would you do it it's night time too like it's honestly it's like one o'clock in the morning yeah no it's probably a little good you're asking everyone john why don't you do it i'll go out the front door but i'll come back in straight away okay yeah and then he brings the leopard into the tent it's like come on mate come on mate yeah no it's quite dark shut the door shut the door, mate. Yeah, no, it's quite dark. Shut the door. Shut the door. Shut the door. Has he gone out? It's very dark.

It's very dark. It's very dark. There's no outside lights. Yeah, yeah, no, he's come back out. He didn't go far. No, it's the jungle bin. There's no outside lights. There's no sensor light.

Yeah, but there's Wi-Fi. Yeah. Wi-Fi. Yeah. Anyway. All right. Well, there we go. We've all learned some stuff there, and you'll learn some more

when we met a wonderful man who taught us a whole lot about elephants today. Including about their poops. Dilmar Golden Teabag Ticket Mission. We had two golden tickets inside two boxes of Dilmar tea at the factory in Sri Lanka. If you buy a Dilmar tea box and find those tickets inside, you'll win a trip for two to Sri Lanka to experience some of the things that we've experienced over the last couple of days,

including something really special today. We've learned a lot about Dilmar, not just making the world a better tea. They're also doing so much for the people of Sri Lanka. Yeah, we're drinking the company Kool-Aid, the company tea. They not only do hotels and resorts, which we're staying in one right now, in the middle of the jungle inside a tent. Do you reckon this is the first time people have yelled radio inside of this tent? Probably.

First time radio has been broadcast from the jungle. Literally, there are elephants and leopards and scorpions directly outside our door. Just go outside. We'll do a little test. Go outside now and see what you can see. Although they did tell you you have to get a chaperone. No, but that's a fun game. We will play that.

We will definitely play. Because it's like 1 o'clock in the morning here or something. I don't even know what time it is. It's the middle of the night. And they were like, do not go outside in the dark by yourself. So take a chaperone, Ben bed and see what you can find. They weren't doing radio. Okay, anyway.

So we learned about Dilma. Dilma doing wonderful things for the people of Sri Lanka, underprivileged people, teaching them as well, as well as animals, including elephants that have been orphaned without their family. They basically rehabilitate them back into the wild. A really, really incredible thing. Yeah, it's called the Elephant Transit Home. And Dr. Sumith, who's an incredible man who was working in the banking industry

until he was like 55, always loved elephants, left his banking job and just pursued a career in researching elephants. We'll talk to him a little bit in more depth later on in the show. But he said he can tell what sort of elephant it is just by looking at their dung. Yes, because if you see a pile of dung, you can say whether it

is an adult male or a young male or an adult female. The way you say that is, if it's a large dung bolai, it's an adult male. If it's a smaller one, it could be an adult female or a young male. But an adult female is in a group, so then you will see at least another pile of dung bolai, it's an adult male. If it's a smaller one, it could be an adult female or a young male. But an adult female is in a group, so then you will see at least another pile of dung somewhere close by.

Then you know it's an adult female. If it's a single pile of dung, it's a young male. Then, if it is a crop raider, when you look at the dung, you see bits of grain in it. Then you know he's a crop raider. If you see bits of stick in the dung, he spends more time feeding in the forest.

And we sometimes have an occasional elephant going to a garbage dump, disposal site. If you see polythene in the dung, you know he goes to a garbage dump. So from one pile you can get that much information about the elephant. So do you just hand straight in? Yes, I do hand straight in. That's the way you look at it. I guess so, yeah. If you find me a pile of dung, I do hands straight in. That's the way you look at it. Yeah, I guess so, yeah. If you find me a pilot, I'll show you. I'll take a word for it.

It's fun. Ben didn't take his word for it. Ben actually left him some on the floor, and he lived up to his claim. It is incredible he's dedicated his life to elephants and what they are doing to put them back into the wild. It's actually so cute because the facility is not fenced, so the elephants can go wherever they want,

but they know at 10.30 they can pop back and they will get fed. And they were just coming. There's about 60 elephants and baby elephants as well just coming in. Very punchy. At 10.30 they knew without any clocks. They didn't see a single clock on an elephant. They came on in. 10.30 on the dot. On't see a single clock on an elephant. They came on in. 10.30 on the dot.

On the dot. They were ready to go. They came on in. Line up politely. Yeah. Have their milk. Have their milk. The young ones get their milk.

The other ones get a little bit of a feed, and off they go again. It's really cool. There's so many bananas they've got as well, too. And they fed their milk through one of those things. You know how Dunedin Uni students scull cans of powders? Yeah. A funnel. A funnel, yeah.

Same thing. That's how they're fed. They're baby elephants doing funnels at 10.30 in the morning. Yeah. But very adorable and amazing things that Dilma are doing, not just for people in Sri Lanka, we've discovered, but also for animals as well and wildlife. And you could be seeing it all for yourself very shortly.

We're giving away the trips to Sri Lanka. Jono, Ben and Megan. The podcast. The hits. It feels very surreal to be here and experiencing all the amazing things that Sri Lanka has to offer. The beautiful people, the beautiful countryside, the animals. Maybe a bit too much on the animals for me, but hey.

We're in the wild coast at the moment. This is the part of Sri Lanka where Dilmar, the tea company, also have a resort which is in the middle of the jungle. Like, you step out the front door and without any exaggeration, you could be greeted by a leopard. Yeah.

Leopard staring you dead in the eyes. Yeah, they're like... Elephants. We had an elephant. We walked out the front door of the hotels. There was an elephant just wandering around, eating. And everyone was panicking. Get out of the way.

The elephant's here. It's pretty incredible. You have to walk around with a chaperone at night, someone from the resort, because of the snakes. And we saw a scorpion on the path. There's a lot going on. There's a lot going on. To me, it sounds incredible, like you're in amongst the wildlife.

But then I don't think I would love seeing a scorpion and didn't your guide get really close like almost touching it yeah yeah they're a lot braver than me i mean everyone's a lot braver than me this is you know like i have discovered that it's fine it's okay actually because it's the middle it's the middle of the night here uh after midnight do you think you're gonna get any sleep tonight no no not not while it's not a night maybe daylight when daylight we're what time to get daylight kick in okay oh you know who knows every movement every little thing going on but he's like he's like I saw a mosquito in my room. I saw a mosquito. Well, you're like, I think we'll get mosquitoes. I saw two.

He's pretty much caught dengue and malaria. Like, can you hear noises? Yeah, yeah, but mainly frogs. Mainly frogs outside the window, which the frogs are okay. I'm okay with frogs. I have no problem with frogs. So I'm trying to find stuff to distract him here, Megan. Okay.

And what we're using to do the show on is like this little piece of equipment, which I don't know why it has this because this is like a child with a water gun, but it's got a whole bunch of functions. So this is what we're recording the radio show back, broadcasting back, but it's got these big buttons on it. If you push the button. Big bright buttons. Uh-oh.

Uh-oh. Oh, my God. So you can do anything. And the giant, big, colourful bright buttons. It looks like something Ed Sheeran would use, you know, on stage. Yeah. And then if he hits this one, my voice goes a little bit weird. It goes so weird. Do you like that?

Do you like that? I actually loved it. I don't like that too much. Somebody help me just here at the table. How do you do that? I'm sorry. Who wants Ben to do the rest of the show like a robot? No, it's too big.

Have a small robot. At this point, I feel like it's important to remind everyone it's like the middle of the night for these two, so they're a little bit delirious. Yeah, you're right. You're a monster. Who's a monster? I'm a monster.

Oh, my God. That's so silly. That's so silly. Stop doing that to my God. That's so silly. That's so silly. Stop doing that to my voice. Stop pushing the buttons. Stop it. So here we go. Wow, that's...

There's so many functions. It's got so many functions. Oh, God. Unnecessary functions. Yeah. I'm hitting outside. I'm hitting outside. I'm nice.

You know, I'd never do it, but I'm going outside without a chaperone. You've driven me to that. No, I'm not. No, I'm not. I'm staying here. What's worse, Jono on those buttons or meeting a leopard in the dark? Yeah, well, the leopard wouldn't be pushing my buttons like that, that's for sure. Jono, Ben and Megan.

The podcast. The hits. Yeah, we're from Sri Lanka. Coming to you all week from here on our Dilmar golden teabag ticket mission. We put two golden teabag tickets inside two boxes of Dilmar tea. They will be sold in New Zealand very shortly.

You find the golden ticket, you could win a trip to Sri Lanka to experience some of the amazing things we've got to experience. Yeah, coming to you live from the jungle, the mighty jungle, where the lion, live from the jungle, the mighty jungle, where the lion, well, not the lion, the leopard sleeps tonight. Yeah, we saw a leopard today.

Yeah, in Sri Lanka, a leopard dangling from the trees, seeing the elephants. That was on a safari, so I felt good and safe from a safari. I was like, great, we're in a ute, sort of Hilux ute. I'm like, I feel good. I feel good. It's the time I wanted to see animals, Megan. Yeah. Not when you're just casually walking to the bathroom or something.

Yeah. Problem is they refuse to put up fences around this wonderful resort, the Dilmarone. Well, it's because you're in a national park, aren't you? Correct. Yeah. Yeah. But still, I mean, what's a fence? You know, there's a fence to two.

Anyway, we're here now and we're in this wonderful glamping tent. This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, particularly for Ben, who will never return. It is beautiful. Like, it's incredible. But I could do without having to be chaperoned to my room for fear of snakes. And this is a hotel policy as well, protection from wild animals. There could be anything out there.

And that's the thing. When they give you, like, a breakdown in, like,. And that's the thing, when they give you a breakdown in safety, that's the what if and it could never happen. But it did happen. You did have a close encounter. This was just walking to dinner. Ran into a scorpion on the footpath.

Now, the rule is if it's big and black it's safe. If it's small and brown it's poisonous, right? I apply that rule to many areas in my life. So we're in our jungle hotel and Ben is on high alert. We're walking down to get dinner and we've just passed a scorpion right in the middle of the park. We haven't passed it yet.

No, we haven't passed it. We've stopped at it. Te Lanke, you've been bitten by a scorpion poison right yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah well ashley was making like banter with you before we were waiting and he was talking about finding a massive cobra on the path the other night did you yeah so and i was like this is not great like banter let's talk about cricket or something else so anyway that's the scorpion the scorpion's got its tail up in the air, which I think means it's happy and relaxed. All right. I'm not happy or relaxed.

So let's go, guys. Let's go. Yeah, that's not what it means, is it? It means it's ready to attack. Ready to attack. I saw this white man, this skinny white man, nervous, anxious white man as a threat. There's so many things that can kill you in the jungle, right?

It's just... Shout out to bloody Tarzan, who grew up in the jungle. Yeah, that can kill you in the jungle right it's just shout out to bloody tarzan who grew up in the jungle yeah hey raised in the jungle not once did he moan about oh there's a scorpion little child he might have moaned about it we don't know without a word of a lie i don't think i'm going to do much sleeping tonight i've got i've got some editing i'm going to do i'm going to keep my brain occupied you got some melatonin or something? Yeah. Maybe it's a tranquilizer or something. Tranquilizer gun on them. She doesn't have to be one in the office. I don't think they do that.

We would love to know this morning on 0800 The Hits if you've had a close encounter with an exotic animal. When I was in Thailand, I came across a, it was pretty skinny and I'd say about a meter long, but it was a highlighter green, like a fluoro green snake, which terrified me. No, Megan, no. No, I don't need to hear this. These are not the stories I need to hear.

They said if it's bright coloured, it's less poisonous. It's the black snakes and the brown snakes that you need to be worried about. Someone's joined the conversation on the text 4487. You can tell snakes too by their eyes the pupils aren't round then they're venomous oh geez what's that so who's standing there looking it in the eye to find out maybe we just check out your pupils you gotta be very cool calm and collected there don't you so okay your encounters with exotic animals, that's question number one. Question number two, do we tranquilise Ben after 8 o'clock?

Oh my god, yes! Jono, Ben and Megan. The podcast. The hits. We're here at the Wild Coast which is one of Dilmar's wonderful resorts. Smack bang, right in the right in the ghoulies of the jungle. And you're exposed, you're exposed to what the jungle

has on offer and unfortunately for Ben what the jungle has on offer, and unfortunately for Ben, what the jungle has on offer are a collection of animals that could end his life. A lot of texts coming through, people just saying, this sounds like my dream place to stay. This is a once, and it is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It is amazing. These tents, this is high-quality glamping. Yeah, see, you're saying tent, but these, I can see it,

and it's beautiful. It's got a ceiling fan. It looks like a fancy kind of yurt style. It's beautiful. It's when you step out the door, though. That's when things for me get a little real. With the location you're at, we've encountered a scorpion. We've encountered an elephant on the path.

This is just meters away from where we are sleeping. There's talk of snakes. There's talk of so much stuff that can hurt you, can kill you. There's also talk on the text machine of someone saying, tranquilize Ben for their own good. Well, I think so. We have discussed that, haven't we, Megan? Yeah, because Ben's saying he's not going to sleep tonight.

So I think it is for your own good to have a wee trank. A wee trank. If we did an 820 tranking, that would be a ratings bonanza, wouldn't it, Megan? I'm sure they've got a dart at reception. You have to keep talking while the Trank kicks in Yeah So you'd be like

I'm going to talk and change my voice with the thing you found. I've found this voice changer and it's so much fun. Go Okay, I'll be like this with the Trank realiser Alright, so what we are Alright, you can stop that now Stop it, Johnny Okay, he'll be like this with the tranquilizer. All right, so what we are... All right, you can stop that now.

Stop it, Johnny. Johnny, stop it. We are... Okay, please turn it off now. We wanted to know the close encounters with exotic animals that you've had. Well, I didn't want to know that, but you guys definitely did. Who have we got on now? Andrew, that's Megan.

Michelle joins us this morning. Good morning, Michelle. Good morning. How are you doing? I'm doing great. I'm in the confines of a studio. Ben, however, he's very terrified of the exotic animals in the Sri Lankan jungle. And I don't think your story's going to help.

Yeah. What do I not want to hear, Michelle? What is it? Okay. Well, they don't have hippos in Sri Lanka, I don't think, so you'll be all right with my story. I did a seven-week overland truck tour through Africa, and one of the trips we did was out on the Okavango Delta, where you go out in these dugout canoes and you have somebody that's sort of like hunting you along through the little streams in the delta and we got to a waterhole where there was a hippo and it was i don't know there was probably about 20 of us in

the group so there was 10 boats and the guy that was driving or punting our boat was a little bit inexperienced and he just pushed us just a little bit too far into the waterhole and the hippo did not like that so next minute the hippo is coming for us and we're like oh this isn't good so we had to lie down and pretend to be dead oh god who did just to get our height down and then we fortunately he pulled us backwards out of you know out of the hippo's space and he stopped but um we were kind of like, oh yeah, that was a bit scary. But by the time we got back to the town, two days later, everybody was talking about it.

Because hippos kill more people than lions, apparently. And they look big and slow, but in the water, those things move so fast. Oh yeah, they certainly do. So yeah, that was an interesting experience. And then on the same trip, we did come across scorpions as well when we were rolling off our tents. I love how the only solution is, did the tour guide go, everyone play dead? Did you all have to just lie on the ground lifeless? What's that, sorry? Did you just have to lie on the ground lifeless? No well we had to lie down in the boat lifeless to reduce the height so the hippo didn't see us as a threat. No the scorpion did not. God. You're like well we might not have to play dead we might be dead in a minute anyway. Good lord. Oh god okay well I don't need any more of these. John O'Byrne and Megan. The podcast.

The hits. A bit of an internet outage back home in New Zealand where you are, Megan? Yeah, right across the country. Last night a lot of people found it hard to get onto social media so we didn't know what to do with ourselves. She's, how can your internet go down? We have no troubles with the internet in the middle of the jungle in Sri Lanka. I don't know, man. Have you got 5G in the jungle?

I don't know how many Gs. What are Gs and how many of them are we running? I don't know. How many Gs have you got over there? I think we're only 3G. Oh, are you? Oh, no, we're 4G. I'm getting 4G.

Four fingers. But we also, without a word of a lie, we also took the hotel power off the grid momentarily and they had to go to the generator because of us. But anyway, we are rock solid Wi-Fi. Well, I wish that the Wi-Fi would have saved me yesterday, but an old school letter did me in. I did a Jono, and I have got a letter in the mail, and sadly, my husband was home, and he opened the mail yesterday.

I got a parking ticket, which was $70, by the way. Don't get me started. Don't get me started. I've rambled on enough about this on this show. But I probably... It is ludicrous. Okay, I'll stop rambling. He really wants to go, though.

He really wants to go. So I got a parking ticket and my husband was like, well, this is you. But he was like, at the time of the day, I would usually be at Pilates. So he then started questioning. It was a random street. He was like, why were you parked at a random street when you're usually at Pilates on a Wednesday at that time? And I was like, what was I doing? So he's starting to investigate.

Yeah. Well, he's like, why? It's not a street that we know anything. I'm never usually there. I didn't even click where I was. Then I remembered we did a thing at the ANZ Premiership Netball. We went and spoke there. Oh, yeah.

We did. We helped launch the season. Thank you. Why was there no paper parking around there? To be honest, there was no signs. And when I went back to my car, I saw there was no ticket and I was like, yes, I've won. And no, it came

in the mail. But now I need you to vouch for my whereabouts because he was questioning. I said it's a work thing, which sounds very vague. I was like, remember that netball thing? And he was like, okay, okay. So you need to vouch for me. I can't remember any netball thing.

Can you remember any netball thing? No, actually, no. No, you're right. What day did you say it was? It was a Wednesday. What day did you say it was? Wednesday. Whereabouts?

No. No, I don't remember that happening. You remember. And I don't think we got any photos specifically, so I can't even timestamp it. But it would be great if you can tell my husband that. I was at a gynaecologist appointment that Wednesday, I think. What were you doing? That was a bit weird.

The gynaecologist said, please leave. This is completely unnecessary. I still need to pay for the full hour. Oh, yeah, okay. This is completely unnecessary. I still need to pay for the full hour. Oh, yeah, okay. So, yeah. Can't vouch for you on that one. Sorry, Megan.

I'm sorry. You're mean. 70 bucks, though. I know. It's criminal. 70 bucks is, yeah. It is. It's almost like they don't want, I'm rambling again.

You are. But what? They don't want you to drive into town. I know. They don't want people in town. I'm going to do another Jono and write to the council. Do! I've got to resign. And on that note,

the light phasing issue, the light phasing issue, the phasing's gone back to the original. I don't want to say I had a hand in that. Jono wrote to the council about the light phasing. Jono, Ben and Megan. The podcast. The hits. Some amazing people over the last couple of days.

Everyone is just beautiful people, amazing people. Yeah, some very special people, very special country, and a very special prize you could be winning. Dilmar have not only the tea and the tea factory, they do a lot of charity work. They have schools for disadvantaged children and adults as well, also wanting to learn new things. And we went to the culinary school.

They stood to attention and sung the Sri Lankan national anthem for us. Sri Lanka, Mata. Upper Sri Lanka. Namo, Namo, Namo, Namo, Mata. Sundari siri, Bani. She's a banger. She is a banger. She is a banger. It was awesome to me. And then I made Ben sing them God Defend New Zealand,

both versions back, solo artist. Yeah. But I did have an awkward moment in the Sri Lankan hotel because the first night I was there, we were all going to go out to dinner with the people from Dilmar. And I was like well that's you know my shirt was a little bit

crinkled in my bag so I was like well let's get an iron you know let's iron the shirt it's a nice thing to do and for some reason while I was meant to have an iron in the room

I rang up and said I don't have an iron they're like it's in the cupboard you idiot so that's what it felt like they were like I've checked

I had checked the cupboard but I had another check just to make sure and it wasn't in the cupboard so but I had another check just to make sure. And it wasn't in the cupboard, so they kindly brought one up. And the guy came to the door, knocked in, he goes, here's your iron. Now, I thought at this stage you just hand over the iron and that would be it. But no, he came in.

He said, can I come in? I said, yeah, sure. He came on in and he put the ironing board up and he put the iron on. He would like me to plug it in. I was like, oh, that's lovely. And he put it to the right setting. And then I said, thank you so much. This is amazing.

Thank you. Amazing service. Thank you so much. And then he just sort of stood there. And I was like, thank you. That's very kind. Thank you. Very kind that you set this up. And then he just said thank you.

And he stood there. And he stood there next to the ironing board. And that's when you start going, is this a moment where i should be tipping this person this gentleman is this is this what should happen in this situation 100 the guy's coming uh he's put the ironing board he's turned the iron on he's you've even said thank you for your service the problem is i have no cash so this and this was become his problem as well, right? Because I had no cash. So I had nothing to do. How did you end this?

Well, I said thank you. I thanked him again and thanked him again and I just walked over to the door and opened it. Well, there was nothing else I could do. I wasn't going to go shoo, shoo or anything. You basically did when you opened the door. That's what you get. Yeah, I felt bad. And then I thought, well, no, you know, it's a Commonwealth country.

It's like New Zealand. I thought maybe it's not a tipping thing. And then I asked someone from Dilmar, and they said, no, you can tip. And it's sometimes expected in those situations. I should have been like, let me take you to my friend Jono's room who always takes cash on international travel. No, I was told vehemently by Ben, we don't need cash. It's a cashless society.

Do not get cash, you boomer. That's what he said to me at Auckland Airport. So I'm also wandering around cashless and I feel naked. Did you offer up any of the sachets, the coffee sachets? No, I should have given him something else. Have a little Dilmar tea sachet or something? No, so yeah. It's a faux pas.

Hey, I'm from New Zealand. He's got to understand that, right? He's an asterisk on your room. Don't go here. He's a monster. Jono, Ben and Megan. The podcast. The hits.

Hey, in Sri Lanka we met a really remarkable person We're here at the Elephant Transfer Home He told me He just told you that too Sorry, sorry Sumit The elephants never forget but you forget, that's for sure Only two seconds ago he said it's the Elephant Transit Home, you idiot The Elephant Transit Home

And Dr Sumit, welcome Thank you On his birthday Oh, your birthday you're with us Transit home, you idiot. The elephant transit home. And Dr. Sumit, welcome. Thank you. On his birthday. Oh, your birthday, you're with us. Thank you so much for being here. Most welcome. Now, you had a different career for many years. Yes.

But always a love for elephants and then decided to make elephants your life. Yes, I was working in the World Bank for 25 years. And I decided when I'm 55 years old old I will quit whatever job I'm doing and follow my passion which is studying elephants and elephant behavior. So your job what exactly is it? Well Sri Lanka has a huge human elephant conflict problem. To solve the conflict we have to understand elephants. Now humans we think that we are the most enlightened and most evolved species but we expect the elephants to work around us i feel that we really should understand elephants and try to work around them for that we need to understand elephants their behavior

their needs their reproduction needs and take that into account when we are doing our planning and development so when you say conflict uh people building houses where the elephants used to yeah right we've been encroaching a lot into elephant habitat for housing we have been doing development projects which are very poorly planned which also encroaches into elephant habitat so you are fragmenting elephant habitat so that creates interaction between humans and elephants and these interactions generally don't end in a very positive way. How many elephants roughly are there in Sri Lanka? I think we have anything between

6,000 to 8,000 elephants in Sri Lanka. So today we're going to see elephants that were orphans maybe or away from their mothers and hopefully we'll put them back into the wild not us today but that's that's what will happen right yes this facility at the which is the udawalawe national park elephant transit home is sometimes we find baby elephants abandoned in the wild they have either fallen into a well or fallen into a ditch or they have been injured and the family can't get them out of the ditch or well or they're too injured to walk, so the family leaves them. So we, the Wildlife Conservation Department of Sri Lanka,

collects these elephants, brings them here, we rehabilitate them, and when they're about eight, nine years old, in a group of about eight to ten elephants, they're released back into the wild. Oh, so they form their own herds. They form their own herds. So they learn from experience. That is why they are so intelligent,

because when they see something, they can figure out how to deal with it. They learn from that experience, and that's what makes it very difficult to mitigate the human-elephant conflict, because every deterrent that we bring, it's a matter of time before they figure out how to deal with it yeah they'll get around it yes yeah because you said people have grain in their houses and they can smell the grain from what five k's away no not maybe about a kilometer kilometer and a half with five k's thank you thank you i thought it did too

but anyway you stick to your k yes so they can scent this grain in the house five k's away one to one and a half kilometers away and then they come to the house and then they bark they tend to break the break the wall to get at the grain with their head they will headbutt the wall or just push it and push the house in breaking a wall for them is nothing because you got a remarkable story we were talking about you on the show yesterday and you're staying in the room next to us and we were doing radio till two in the morning yes and we said we hope we're not waking up sumit dr elephant and you got a message from new zealand yes i got my wife got a message from her

nephew nisanka who lives in new ze Zealand. He had sent her a message asking, is Sumit living in the same hotel as these guys? Because they said that they were hoping that they won't disturb Dr. Elephant. What a world we live in. John O'Bien and Megan. The podcast. The heads. I see Donald Trump

has continued his feud, his unnecessary feud with Taylor Swift. He has tweeted during the week, has anyone noticed that since I said I hate Taylor Swift, she's no longer hot? I think it's a very one-sided feud. I don't think she's engaging in it.

Exactly, but where did he, like he's president. Why is he getting, like what's he doing? You could say that about a lot of things, Ben, that Donald Trump does. Also, she's going on a break because she just did a big tour around the whole wide world. She's just having some time off. Yeah, true. She's having time out at the moment.

Maybe she's glamping in a tent in Sri Lanka right now. This is where we're at at the moment. We're in the middle of the jungle, and Ben is really not wanting to end the radio show. He is going to stay awake all night. This is not drama. This is not over-exaggeration. You're probably not going to end the radio show. Like, he is going to stay awake all night. And this is not drama. This is not over-exaggeration. You're probably not going to get an ounce of sleep. Time check, it's like 1 a.m., almost 1 a.m. for you guys, right?

Somewhere around there. It's the middle of the night. Yeah, after 1 a.m. at the moment. Yeah. Yeah. What's your worst nightmare? Okay, so let's just talk worst-case scenario. Well, I do feel better inside than I do out of the thing.

You know, like, you're walking along the pathways. It's just not a happy place. So that's your worst-case of the thing, you know, like you're walking along the pathways, it's just not a happy place. So that's your worst case scenario, well you're not going to be on the pathways, you're going to be inside. Yeah I know, but there is still stuff that can happen here. But yeah yeah. Yeah it's okay. Is your worst case scenario an elephant stepping on the tent?

Yeah well now it is. Is it a leopard at the door? Like saying housekeeping and then it's like sucker it's a leopard at the door? Like saying, housekeeping, and then it's like, sucker, it's a leopard. We're on the wild coast in the, sucker, yeah, there's a leopard all along. We're on the wild coast in Sri Lanka in Dilmar. The wonderful Dilmar actually have resorts here and in other parts of Sri Lanka. And might I say, Megan, whoever wins this trip, going to be treated like royalty. Honestly, feel like royalty I feel like

we're getting treated better than Harry is getting treated by the royal family. Oh yeah but most people are getting treated better than that but you're right it is a really once in a lifetime experience and two people will win this amazing trip which is so great to do. Do you know they've got this wonderful guy Spencer who is such a generous man and he works for Dilmar. I don't know what his job is, but he just does everything. Like David, this man we're travelling with, his shoe broke. And he's like, Spencer, can you fix this?

He had a cobbler come up gluing the shoe within five minutes. You say anything to Spencer, you're like, Spencer, is there a potential we could get a Lamborghini in the middle of the jungle? And he'll just see it. He just goes, leave it with me. And boom, something just... Spencer, you're like, Spencer, is there a potential we could get a Lamborghini in the middle of the jungle? And he'll just see, he just goes, leave it with me. And boom, something just went wrong. We haven't asked for a Lamborghini. But yeah, just the technical equipment of broadcasting a show in the middle of the jungle is obviously what it sounds. It's quite tricky.

He had IT people come out yesterday and wait to the end of the show just to make sure everything was okay. I know you guys. But wiring things in, it's incredible. I know you guys don't like pushing your luck and you don't like asking for things but today can you just just for me just see how far you can push him spencer yeah okay what can you get from him ashley from work who's here with us uh wanted to get a special present and he was like i'll take you there leave it with me he had her in the store, one-on-one shopping. I don't know who this guy is. And he won't get in any photos.

He refuses to be in a photo. And I'm like, is there any photographic evidence of Spencer? Is his name even Spencer? I feel like it's, you know, have you seen the movie Fight Club when you imagine someone the whole time? I think he's a figment of our jet-lagged imagination. Jono, Ben and Megan. The podcast.

The hits. Safari through the National Park of Sri Lanka. Amazing amount of animals they've got. Just incredible. Driving along on the Jeeps, checking it out. It was very cool. Yeah, we were with Amrit, who is from Dilmar. He's Dilhan's son from Dilmar.

And he had seen multiple leopards. He'd been here two or three times. He's dozens and dozens of leopards. So we were desperate to see a leopard. Saw one dangling off a branch. Oh, wow. And once word gets out that there's a leopard, then all of the other jeeps who are driving around the national park,

they all converge. Yeah, like a huge national park, but suddenly it's like gridlocked. Yeah, it's like a pack-and-save car park on a meat week. Where it was, people trying to do three-point turns. Yeah, it was a shambles, but we got to see it. We got to see it. Also saw a whole bunch of other stuff as well. And Taranka from Sri Lanka, who was our tour guide,

he had some interesting facts about it because we saw a mongoose. So we're out here in the jungle. It's the circle of life. Yeah, it's a real item. I am not we've seen deer, we've seen crocodiles, elephants and a mongoose. And a fun fact about the mongoose. Yeah, we just saw ruddy mongoose which they're smelling abilities much better than canine. So in Sri Lankan Army now at the moment we have mongoose units to detect explosives and drugs. They can be easily trained as well. So they're like the canine units for the dogs?

They're still afraid of the canines, but they also have this special mongoose unit as well. Is this a true thing, or is this something we'll go back and tell New Zealanders? Those New Zealanders believe this. This is very true. You can keep the mongoose unit away from Ben's bags when we leave Sri Lanka. So the mongoose is like a sniffer dog? Yeah, like a beagle at the airport in New Zealand. Do they have signs that it's like mongoose in progress or something?

Yeah, don't pet the mongoose. Because he was really great. He knew so much stuff, but he also sprinkled in some humour throughout as well. So I was for a while doubting this mongoose fact, so he had to pull it up on his phone and show me the news article that related to that. It's hard when someone does that because you have to listen for the punchline. Sometimes a story wouldn't have a punchline. You're like, is that a joke?

Did you try the mongoose coffee? That's what he was saying. I thought that was a joke. No. This is what I know. They eat the coffee beans and then they poop them out and they've got a little bit of coating on them. And then they make a coffee out of those beans.

Out of the poop? Out of the poop beans. So you didn't try it? Because Ben thought that was tea propaganda for Dilmar. I was like, there's another reason for me to enjoy my Dilmar tea, but okay. Yeah, I've heard it's quite bitter. I don't know if it's worth trying, to be honest. Who gave that a go?

Who was that hero who was the first person to say how much? Also, they fight snakes as well. The venom from snakes doesn't affect them. Oh, wow. Is there anything the mongoose can't do? A barista snake fighting legend. That's pretty impressive. Jono, Ben and Megan.

The podcast. The hits. We have ventured out of the city of Colombo in Sri Lanka and we're here, without a word of a lie, we're in the jungle tonight. We are staying in these glamping domes in the jungle. Yeah, which are actually because we're over here with Dilmar. And Dilmar also not only do the schools for the disadvantaged,

but they also have resorts as well, one of which happens to be in the middle of the jungle. And shout out to the Wi-Fi in the jungle. Yeah, right. It's a rock solid Wi-Fi. Who would have thought you'd be broadcasting back to New Zealand in the middle of the jungle? We need to change that song. In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps the night.

Also, the Wi-Fi is rock solid. But it's got like a fan. It looks like a very fancy tent, but it's got a ceiling fan. It looks very nice. Yeah, so inside these glamping pods, they're beautiful. But outside the door, this is where I, as a very anxious person, alert level 1 million, because we arrived at the, it's called the Wild Coast Lodge in Yala.

And as we arrived here, it's in the middle of like the jungle, the national park here in Sri Lanka. And this was the general manager uh welcoming us welcoming us and so nervous he can't even say welcome yeah no have a listen how are you how are you going very good and you yeah good thank you for having us here uh today uh there's just a bit of a warning ben just so you know we're staying in sort of are we staying in tents are we we are actually just in a jungle so there's no fence around the property in the jungle the the mighty jungle actually it's like the it's open for wildlife there's no fence around the property any time of the day any animal one can happen like

wild boars elephant especially elephant for your safety concerns actually we want you to follow a few rules in the sense uh so in the daytime of course you can walk along the pathway but not during the dark time so dark hours please dial zero we'll be sending someone to accompany you to dining and dining room always has to be followed by one of our staff with the flashlight in case in case of what in case if you're eaten by a leopard also. Okay, okay. Eaten by a leopard. Did you just say eaten by a leopard? I'm trying to avoid that. And you said snakes before too.

Of course. So please keep your eye all the time on the floor because... During daytime as well? Even, please. Just snakes everywhere. Because there are venomous snakes and non-venomous boats. So in case if you go to like like sea so please avoid them and just walk out of interest how big are the snakes with your arms can you show me to be frank actually it's

like more than wide of my uh arms oh my gosh okay so we're talking a couple of meters okay we'll take here i don't want to i don't want to pick holes in your wonderful establishment here how about building a fence? Ben's face during that. You're just like, oh, my Lord. Honestly, sometimes you over-dramatise things on radio. I get it. But this is like we were walking to lunch.

There was an elephant blocking the path. We were just walking to dinner. There was a scorpion with its tail up. Just like banter we had with the guy walking us to the room, our chaperone. He's like, yeah, I saw a massive cobra, a venomous cobra, a couple of nights ago. I'm like, this is, oh, I'm not going to sleep tonight.

A couple of rules I remember with snakes, the more brightly coloured they are, the less venomous, I think. And then with scorpions, if they're big and black, you're fine. If they're small and brown, you're not. We'll bring you the scorpion coverage very shortly don't worry well i recorded the scorpion film the scorpion in real time and also there's um leopards leopards can sleep under the tents at times as well so listen we're in the thing i also love that they're like um someone can escort you with a torch. And it's like, but what are they going to do with the torch?

Click it on and off. On and off. On and off. Stop that. We'll have more updates throughout the night, as I say before. Is it my last night? Who knows? But it is a wonderful establishment.

Jono, Ben and Megan. The podcast. The hits. My golden teabag ticket mission experiencing some pretty incredible things once in a lifetime opportunities and you could be winning your chance to go over there and experience it

Love it It's such an amazing experience What's the same case it for? I'm just saying like you put the golden teabag tickets in the boxes like what? Sunday our time? You could have come back Yeahag tickets in the boxes like, what, Sunday our time?

You could have come back. Yeah. We're in the jungle, mate. We are in the jungle with some of the wildest animals that nature has created, putting our lives on the line in the name of the show, aren't we? We were. In the name of the holiday. Yeah.

Dry Ricky run. Yeah. Well, meanwhile, I'm back home home and I've been on TikTok. And I often make recipes from TikTok. Some of my favorite things, recipes that I found on there. But this morning I've tried. Some of my favorite political theories come from TikTok too. A lot of favorite stuff comes from TikTok.

And I'm on a bit of a health kick. I'm not having sugar at the moment. So I saw someone tease this chocolate cheesecake overnight oats recipe. And I was like, that looks incredible. Does it also come with avocados? No. There's no avocado. Megan took four avocados from the table of free avocados at work.

Yeah, the communal, it was only like nine. Help yourself is what it says. I had great guacamole last night. Anyway, anyway. So this recipe requires you to put cocoa in, no sugar, and then on top you put a tofu cream. Sounds depressing already. What skinny anemic vegan was doing this on TikTok?

I know And they were eating the tofu cream by the spoonful Going, this is just delicious And I was like, okay, I'll bite I'll try it They're not happy They're not happy inside those people It is the grimmest thing

It is bitter and there's no sugar And the tofu cream just It smells and tastes like whipped tofu on top of my Is this a breakfast thing? Is this something that you have for breakfast or did you decide to have it for breakfast? No, it's a breakfast thing, but now because I can't

I haven't been eating, I've been trying to eat it for an hour it's curdled, the tofu's curdled on top I can see it on the camera, we're on zoom it looks like it's a stool sample that's got lost on its way to the laboratory. That's kind of what it tastes like. Yeah, lab tests are going to come around and pop it in a paper bag. Do you want us to call them?

We'll call and tell them to come pick it up. So you can't trust political theories or recipes on TikTok. I've since learned. Do you know, I stood in Elfandung today, and I think they look better than mine. it up yeah so you can't trust political theories or recipes on tick tock i've since learned you know i i stood an elephant dung today and i think they look better than what you're eating right now and tastier great