Thailand - Chiang Mai - Elephant Nature Park
We had an incredible day at Elephant Nature Park, a
sanctuary for rescued elephants near Chiang Mai. These elephants may have been
injured in the logging industry, stepped on landmines, blinded by working under
circus lights, or suffered some other abuse by humans, including servitude in
the tourist trade. You might think that riding an elephant is no big deal, but
if you add the weight of the iron chair, the mahout (handler) and a couple of
tourists, you can have half a ton of weight on the animal’s back. But to even get
to the point where the elephant will allow you to ride him involves “breaking
its spirit,” which means taking a young elephant away from its mother (often by
killing or injuring the mother) then subjecting the captive young animal to a
barbaric process known as “Phajaan.” The young elephants are constrained with
ropes and chains, beaten, stabbed, screamed at and starved until they finally
just give up and become submissive to their human trainers. This cruel practice
is behind all elephant tourism where these wild animals are made to interact
with humans. True sanctuaries like Elephant Nature Park are the only places
where you can ethically have a hands-on experience with elephants.
Our experience was a full day tour called “Pamper a Pachyderm.”
Our small group of six plus three guides walked for a couple of kilometers along
with three female elephants, feeding them from a shoulder bag each of us was
given that was full of bananas, watermelon, squash and sugar cane. The
elephants have an insatiable appetite and if you didn’t keep walking their
trunks would be all over you, probing for another snack. They are a little
intimidating at first because of their immense size, but it doesn’t take long
before you get comfortable with getting close to them without fear that they
will crush you. They are actually gentle giants. And with a small tour group we were able to pair off such that it was like Deborah and I had our own personal elephant.
After the hike and our own lunch break (all vegetarian) we cut
up some more watermelon and squash for the ladies, and helped to make them some
baseball-sized treats consisting of rice, bananas, squash and salt. We fed the elephants again and then used still more food
to coax them down to the river for bathing. We were given buckets to splash
water on their backs, although one of them dived completely under water on her
own. I unfortunately forgot about the cell phone in my pocket when I waded into
the river. (It died, but is now fixed, except for the camera function, which is
permanently dead).
After bath time we donned life vests and helmets and were each
handed an oar for a rafting trip down the river to the actual sanctuary park. A
true white water aficionado would probably find our excursion tame, but it was more
intense than I expected – certainly enough for us all to get drenched and for the
guy next to me to nearly fall out at one spot. It was fun! There were changing
rooms at the park for us to put on our dry clothes, then we got a tour of the
expansive facility that provides a natural home and rehabilitative care for dozens
of elephants. They also care for 400 rescued dogs plus many cats and water buffaloes.
Such a remarkable organization. Deborah and I agree that this was one of the
best days of our trip – or any trip – and we will certainly never look at these
amazing creatures the same again.
Our guide with two of the girls.
(photo by Deborah)
Trunk attack!
Elephant selfie
(photo by Deborah)
Elephant skin is amazing.
Coaxing the elephants into the river.
Bath time.
Skin color and patterns change when wet.
Deborah helps with the rinse cycle.
Preparing the next meal.
(photo by Deborah)
(photo by Deborah)
(photo by Deborah)
Grounds of the elephant nature park.
Baby elephant.
Video: Deborah feeding an elephant.
Coming at you.
(video by Deborah)
Blake feeding an elephant.
(video by Deborah)
When you have an itch...
(video by Deborah)
Video: Playing in the river.
So, after 35 yrs, I now feel incredible guilt for riding an elephant through the jungle at Chitwan Natl Park in Nepal. Ouch! Perhaps a donation will pay off my karmic debt! Sounds like your activity was way more rewarding. They're such special beasts!
ReplyDeleteWe didn't know about what the elephants go through either until we got here. It's not exactly advertised. And the Thai government has no economic incentive to put a stop to it - elephant tourism is big bucks here. We certainly agree that they are special beasts. We're donating too.
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