Today is one that we had been waiting for. Not only was 2018 ending, but it was ending
in a great way. We were going to an
elephant sanctuary.
First a little background on elephants in Thailand. A hundred years ago there were over 100,000
domesticated elephants in Thailand. They
were used as living bulldozers in logging and clearing land. Some were also used as breathing SUVs to
transport people through the jungle.
Today there are fewer than 3,000 domesticated elephants and
even fewer in the wild. Logging was
banned in 1989, but their use in the tourist trade continues. Some are preforming in shows and others are used
in trekking. These animals have hard
lives, both psychological and physical. When we were in Phuket, we went to an elephant sanctuary where they purchase elephants used in tourism and let them live out their days in peace. They had about 7 or 8 elephants there. It was a well run operation and was very popular with American tourists. The revenue goes towards both supporting and buying more elephants.
The Elephant Nature Park (ENP) in Chiang Mai is the first
and possibly largest. Founded by an
amazing Thai woman, Lek Chailert, this facility is changing the way that
elephants are being treated in Thailand.
It is humbling that one woman can do so much.
We booked well in advance since the time between Christmas
and New Year’s is a popular time in Chiang Mai.
Chiang Mai probably has the densest concentration of American tourists
that we have experienced in Asia and ENP is very popular with Americans. Our driver and tour guide picked the five
of us up at our hotel and along with seven others we headed north for the 90-minute
drive. Along the way we watched two
videos, the first on the rules of the park and the second a 10 year old Animal
Planet video that included ENP.
The Chiang Mai facility is quite large. The first thing we did was feed watermelons
and bananas to a herd of seven elephants, including a baby. There are 150,000 muscles in an elephant’s
trunk and they know how to use every one.
They would want to have two pieces put in the end of their trunk and
then bring it back to their mouth. It
was fascinating.
Our group walked out
to one herd of about five elephants who were five with mahouts (elephant
keepers). They were gathered under a
large tree and one of the mahouts brought out some more banana and watermelon
for us to feed them. These big animals
can be so gentle, but you are always aware of their size.
Most of the mahouts are from Myanmar (Burma) and it was
rewarding to greet them with “mingalaba” (hello in Burmese) and watch them
smile and return the greeting. Each
elephant has her mahout and they use only words and positive reinforcement
(i.e. food) to guide the elephants. We
watched one mahout stare down a baby elephant and the elephant backed away.
Walking in open space with both elephants and water buffalo
walking about freely was a little surreal.
This is truly an animal sanctuary.
The food served for lunch was all vegan.
The water buffalo were on their way to the slaughterhouse before ending
up here at ENP. Dogs (quite well behaved
ones) and cats were also up for adoption.
There was a board where you could sign up to “deliver” a dog to homes
around the world.
After lunch we walked to the river to watch the herd we fed
in the morning have their daily bath. It
was amazing to watch these huge animals roll weightlessly in the water in what
looked like pure bliss. Our guide told
us that because it was rather cool the baths would be short. And he was right.
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| Even cats have a safe place |
Later as the baby was walking around something spooked her
and she began to run. Everyone made sure
to get out of the way quickly. With
their eyes on the side of their heads it was a little hard to tell where she
was running. The good news is that no
one was trampled.
A quick stop in the gift shop where we bought some elephant
wood carvings done by mahouts to make a little extra money. These were only 500 THB and a great way to
remember a wonderful day.
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