I’m an unusual vegetarian.
I’m not mad keen on animals.
When people ask me why, then, I’m a veggie, I say I’m not that keen on quite a lot of people either but that doesn’t mean…ahem.
Anyway, this explains why I’m not usually first in line at animal attractions. For example, I wouldn’t usually choose them over something cultural.
But when some lovely visiting friends invited me to join them at an Elephant Sanctuary, I was interested, because elephants seem so…majestic. And sort of wise. With a satisfyingly contradictory blend of gentleness and power.
The Elephant Nature Park had been recommended to me several times over. It’s an elephant rescue and rehabilitation centre that provides a natural environment for our largest land mammal, so it’s elephant-centered rather than tourist-centered.
Elephants in Thailand
Elephants are everywhere in Thailand.
The King of Thailand has a Royal Stable of 10 white elephants (believed to be essential to the wellbeing and prosperity of the kingdom – all white elephants must legally be gifted to the king), and the Thai Navy’s flag features a white elephant.
They are found everywhere here: in painting and architecture; part of holy designs and sculpture in temples, and are ubiquitous in terms of ‘tourist tat’ (key-rings, t-shirts, scarves, wooden carvings, notebooks, bookmarks, watercolours, on so on ad infinitum).
But elephant numbers here have declined rapidly in the last 100 years, with domestic elephant numbers decreasing from 100,000 to just 5,000, and wild elephants dropping from 300,000 to 3500. It’s a shocking drop.
Domestic and wild elephants
Domesticated by humans for more than 5,000 years, in the last 100 years Asian elephants have been hit hard by both the logging industry, and conversely, the ban of logging in 1989.
Before the ban, the Thai logging industry had destroyed more than two thirds of Thailand’s forests. Elephants were a major source of labour for logging, but it treated them badly, leaving some with broken bones and backs from accidents with the heavy logs. In addition, the destruction of the forest also meant the destruction and fragmentation of the habitat of wild elephants – and their numbers in Thailand decreased as humans increased. For those wild elephants who remain, life is precarious, as in addition to their shrinking habitat, they are still sought after by poachers for their ivory.
The logging ban in 1989 meant that many of the domesticated elephants were out of work, and were then sold to the tourist trade, sometimes to owners who had no experience of elephants, or abandoned to fend for themselves in the wild, something these elephants had never experienced. Some elephants were even left as drug addicts – having previously been fed amphetamines to work faster.
Today then, domesticated elephants are mainly seen in the tourist trade in Thailand. This is a thorny issue. On the one hand, they can be treated badly – examples are begging elephants (apparently there are up to 300 such elephants in Bangkok) in the major cities, where the pollution, noise, traffic and smells are highly stressful to an elephant’s sensitive system. Anyone can be a ‘Mahout’ (elephant handlers), rather than the traditional system where skills and experience were handed down in families with many centuries of experience working with elephants.
On the other hand, at present, without elephant camps offering rides to tourists, and elephants earning their keep, many of these domesticated elephants would die out. But welfare is a critical issue – these animals have the same protection here as other domestic animals such as dogs and cattle, which is to say, very little. Seeing (via the documentary) the ‘traditional’ way in which domesticated elephants are currently trained to deal with humans was sickening.
Elephant Nature Park
Founded through the vision of one woman, Lek (Sangduen Chailert), the camp currently has 34 large tenants (not to mention 400 rescued dogs and 100 cats!). These range from a blind elephant (don’t worry, she made an elephant best friend, and they now go everywhere together!), to an elephant whose back and legs were broken by logging (she wobbles along slowly and precariously but seems to have a good life), and an elephant who trod on a landmine (she has managed give birth to a baby elephant and lives happily with him).
The camp takes in ‘eco-tourists’, so as well as the day experience that I participated in, you can also stay for up to two weeks as an elephant volunteer, helping to feed the elephants the 330lbs fruit and vegetables each one requires per day, harvesting their food, bathing them and generally helping with basic care.
Visiting the elephants
One of the things I enjoyed most about the day was being out of Chiang Mai city and up in the mountains and forest. The park is about 60km from the city, and transport is arranged by the park from your accommodation, making travel straightforward and simple. An Animal Planet documentary featuring the park is shown first, so visitors are sensitized to the stories of the elephants before they start seeing them up close.
When you walk out into the park itself, it feels spacious and open. In a natural valley, surrounded by mountains and forest, with a river to one side, the park has scenery with a capital S. The air is invigorating, and everywhere looks sparkling clean.
The elephants are left to roam in the park, each one looked after by a Mahout who works with them all the time. These seem to be close relationships, with the elephants responding to their name and other basic commands, as well as following them about the park. Of course, with the younger elephants, sometimes it was the other way round! Visitors to the park roam equally freely, this time with a guide with them – the guides and the Mahouts keep each side safe from the other.
Given the amount of food each elephant consumes, this is a major part of their day, and we were allowed to help with the feeding. This consisted of handing the elephants whole pineapples, melons, corn, sugar cane and bunches of bananas, which they would curl their trunk around and thrust into their mouths. They can apparently keep up to half a stone of food in their mouth ‘for later’ at any time, and have four sets of teeth which smash down on the food with powerful jaws. Feeding them was a good experience – I was a bit nervous as I put the first pineapple close to the elephant’s trunk, and almost got my hand caught in the trunk with the pineapple as she wrapped her trunk around it. But she was much more confident and experienced at taking food from visitors than I was giving it, and she dexterously and gently pulled it out of my grasp, staying near so I could stroke her a small part of her strangely bristly and leathery forehead. Her trunk was as long as my whole body, and thicker where it joined with her head. This was a magical moment – connecting with an elephant as she towered over me, trusting she wouldn’t use her strength against me and realising how small and fragile I felt in comparison.
The other activity that the elephants enjoy is bathing in the river. Visitors can go in the river and help bathe them by throwing buckets of water over them. Watching this, it felt a bit like a monkey trying to bathe a human by throwing cups of water at them… but all parties seemed to have a good time!
Unusually in my time in Chiang Mai, we had an absolute downpour of rain in the afternoon. While the humans sheltered under the ‘sky walks’ (walk-ways high enough for an elephant to walk underneath), the elephants went to a giant pile of mud and had a whale of a time with a mud bath. This seemed to be a source of great pleasure to them, as they rolled around, scratched themselves at giant logs and posts put there for that purpose, and blew trunkfuls of mud at themselves and each other – apparently mud acts as natural sunscreen, and keeps the elephants cool. It looked like they were just having a good time to me though!
The camp is a healing space for elephants and humans. Sitting in the seating area (where a fantastic vegetarian buffet was served for lunch), looking out while the rain tipped down, I could see 16 of the elephants, roaming around the valley in herds or pairs, each one with their Mahout close by.
The elephants I saw truly lived up to my preconceptions, and I could have sat in the park and watched them for a long time. Like many animals, they don’t deserve the experience they have received from human hands, and as a species we should be doing what we can to preserve these magnificent animals in our ecosystem.
Inspired by what one person can start
I recommend a trip to the Elephant Nature Park if you visit Chiang Mai, and if not, you might want to sponsor an elephant, or buy an elephant lunch.
The international awards won by Lek and the Elephant Nature Park are deserved, and serve as an example to us all. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed as to the many causes in the world – all the things that need ‘fixing’ – and this camp really shows what we can achieve when we commit to a passion.
So.
Pick something.
And if you already have, let others know about it in the comments below. Who knows who you in your turn will inspire?
Chris says
Beautiful blog Ellen. It was better than watching a David Attenborough film on the BBC.
I loved the picture of you and the HUGE elephant together. If you ever return, he will remember
you, because elephants never forget.
Love G’Dad XXX
tess bullas says
Really enjoyed your post El – sounds an amazing place. I love elephants – we saw them up close in Kenya, but not as close as you! Love Tess x x
ellenmbard says
Thanks Tess! This was a special place. x
El D says
Blimey,El. I’ve always liked elephants in a distant kind of way but now I feel there is nothing I don’t know about them. It sounds like a truly life-changing meeting for you. And up so close and personal to one. Well done! A Elx
ellenmbard says
Thanks! I was nervous at first – they can move surprisingly quickly for such large animals – but they are used to humans and were very gentle. Glad you liked all my elephant facts! x
raveburbleblog says
Great blogging Ellen. As a 7-day volunteer at the park in 2012, it was lovely to see another perspective on it. This place is fantastic, as are the people running it. Like you, I highly recommend going here for an experience unlike any other, that will probably affect you for the rest of your life. I know my friends have since heard me ramble on about elephants at every chance possible. But bacause of the alarming statistics, I’ll keep rambling on because all us human inhabitants of earth need to realise that there is a serious imbalance happening and we need to become a lot more aware of the fact that ALL creatures are as important as we are on this little planet of ours – from the elephants right down to the bumble bees.
ellenmbard says
Thank you. It was an amazing experience, and I was surprised myself by how much I got out of it. It’s fab you volunteered, I can imagine that being pretty powerful. Plus, of course, the great vegetarian food!
bigsurwriter says
Fascinating. Thanks for sharing this and the wonderful photographs. I hope to see elephants next week in the Chobi.
ellenmbard says
Thanks – I took a lot of photos that day, I just couldn’t stop as they were so amazing. Hope you get to see some yourself.
Pedro Vella says
You are right it is an elephant sanctuary full of these magestic beasts ~ which I discovered for myself in June 2012 and then my two week stint in Nov 2012 and my plans to go back in June 2013 p.s. it is Elephant Nature Park ~ not camp (which is important as some of the trekking camps may use that name)
ellenmbard says
That’s great Pedro that you volunteered, I can see it would be a pretty special holiday. Have a great time when you go back in June.
sistasertraline says
So envious, I love elephants!
ellenmbard says
Well, lots of pix here to keep you going, but I recommend a visit at some point – put it on your bucket list! 🙂
Colette Nevin says
Lovely and accurate blog.
I visited the Elephant Nature Park on April 10th, 2013 for one day, and was lucky enough to meet Sangduen “Lek” Chailert, the beautiful and dedicated founder of the Elephant Nature Park. She works extremely hard, and after just returning from a very long tiring visit to South Korea to try to save a 50-year old Asian Elephant in a zoo, she was running around the Elephant Nature Park as usual with a big smile on her face.
If you only have time for one visit in Chiang Mai, Thailand, make it the Elephant Nature Park! It will change your life in a most beautiful way, and the cost of your visit goes 100% toward the maintenance of these beautiful, gentle giants. Lek recieves no money from the government and relies soley on your support.
I’m 55 years old – this place is for everyone, regardless of age. Children, especially get a real thrill being up close to elephants in a natural environment. The guides and mahouts are very good at keeping you all safe whilst giving you the most thrilling experience of your life – connecting with elephants on a personal level.
Finally, remember that the Asian Elephant is fast disappearing. The Elephant Nature Park is dedicated to rescue of tortured working animals and eduction to others about how to provide the best care for captive elephants. Lek’s eventual goal is to see more elephants returned to the wild to replace their dwindling populations. You will never see an “anker” (bullhook) in the hands of any mahout here. Lek’s elephants are encouraged with love and rewards for good behaviour, not punished with torture from a sharp blow of the bullhook!
For more information, enter “Elephant Nature Park” into YouTube to learn all about the different projects – there are lots of videos. Also, visit http://www.elephantnaturepark.org/ to learn the stories of all the elphants and find out how you can visit. If you are already in Chiang Mai, go directly to the Elephant Nature Park office (between Tapai Gate and Chiang Mai Gate on the moat), to book your trip rather than using a travel agent – then all of your money goes to the park rather than into commissions, (and travel agents have a habit of trying to talk you into going somewhere else which pays a higher commission).
ellenmbard says
Thanks Colette – some really good suggestions and tips for people. I too hope people continue visiting and experiencing this wonderful place.
kat says
Hey Ellen,
I finally got to read your blog about the sanctuary. It is still something I would like to do though I thought there fees rather high for Thailand yet everyone that I spoke to about going there loved the experience. I may go to India next and make a stop in Chiang Mai and Pai when I am done. Yet nothing is written in stone and who knows which way the wind blows. Thanks for the info on the elephants. They are one of my fave animals.
Hearts
K@ wOMan
ellenmbard says
Thanks Kat! It was expensive for Thailand, but it was an amazing day which I really loved, as you can tell. It was intensive, and well done – I hope to take my Mum there when she visits in September, so I am happy to go again. Continue keeping in touch – maybe we will be in the same place again at some point later this year 🙂 x