Elephants

While in Thailand, I wanted to find a way of having some interaction with elephants but was averse to doing the typically "tourist ride on the elephant" thing while a mahout pokes and prods the beast.  An expat who lives at my guesthouse suggested I look into Elephant Nature Park. This park is a rescue centre and sanctuary for elephants as well as other animals.  Its founder is  Sangduen "Lek" Chailert whose maternal grandfather was a tribal man of the forest and a traditional healer. Lek's jungle forays with him led to an early understanding of nature. When she was young, her family cared for an elephant which became a close companion to her. This affection led to working with elephants in the forests. After completing a BA from Chiag Mai University, Lek founded the Elephant Heaven Nature Park in 1996, in an attempt to provide a sanctuary for elephants to live in a peaceful natural environment.   

Elephant Nature Park has rescued over 37 distressed elephants throughout the country, with an emphasis on surrounding Northern Thailand areas. The park's current herd includes disabled, orphaned, blind, and rescued elephants of all ages. Most elephants have been rescued from street begging, logging, or tourism. Some outlived their usefulness to loggers while others became useless to trekking camp owners.

Three elephants are as old as 64 while five young elephants (aged 1 to 5) were born in the park.

Chailert's work takes her deep into the jungles of Northern Thailand where, with the help of medical staff, she treats tribal villagers and their families with medical care and, often, donated clothing. Her "Jumbo Express" program provides much needed care to elephants in the jungles in Chiang Mai province and beyond. A veterinarian from the park also provides medical care to sick elephants in remote areas.

They also take in dogs, many rescued from the floods in Bankok, cats destined for cooking pots in Myanmar or Cambodia and water buffalo from slaughterhouses. Over 400 dogs, 50 buffalo, 30 cats, 2 horses, 2 pigs, a monkey and a cow also live at the park. 

In any case, this was obviously the elephant experience of choice for me and I wasn't disappointed.  I was surprised at how large and slick the operation is.  A whole fleet of vans whisk tourists out from Chaing Mai, each with it's tour guide and the whole day is seamlessly choreographed.  We were introduced to a few of the herd by feeding them some snacks, they seem insatiable and, in fact, eat 300-400 lbs of food per day.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYekHEkj2kE

A small sample of the daily menu

Then we trooped over to where a few were hanging out in the field and met a some other members of the herd. 

The elephant on the left was blinded by her mahout in a fit of rage. Her companion here took her under her wing and they are inseparable.

Some were very approachable, others not.   

This one was.

Elephant teeth

Bath time in the river was very entertaining:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDM63HNspQo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJ9oqJCkAUw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vQ0X5u-Iwk

This poor girl stepped on a land mine:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEk3LBmlUNc

Most of the elephants in the park are female.  The few males are kept separate.

And then Lek showed up, called out to the elephants and they all came running and surrounded her, rifling through her clothes for food and totally engulfing her.  It was the highlight of my visit.  A most moving interaction between this tiny woman and these immense beings.  

They clearly love Lek

  

After the river bath it was our turn to eat.  A huge and very tasty buffet spread was laid out and we ate our fill of delicious, varied, vegetarian offerings.  With the exception of a honeymooning couple from Austin, Texas, the group was all from Spain so I got to practice my Spanish, once I got them to slow down.

After lunch it was our turn to bathe the elephants, a rather anticlimactic activity.  An elephant was inticed into the water by food offerings and we were invited to splash water on it with little plastic buckets.  The elephant tolerated us as long as the food held out.

  

This was a most memorable day and I'm grateful to have discovered this opportunity to experience elephants in this way.