ty: live to travel: SAVE THE ELEPHANTS

Day # 32 and 33- The Elephant Nature Park, Chiang Mai, Thailand

SAVE THE ELEPHANTS!

Elephants are a very important part of Thai culture and have been for many, many years. In earlier times, they were used in the logging industry, then when that was banned, they were part of the illegal logging industry. When the government cracked down on that further, elephants were mainly employed for tourism - elephant rides, elephant treks, street performances, street begging. (i am taking ride an elephant off my list of stuff to do)

We visited the Elephant Nature Park and saw elephant tourism from a different point of view. Before coming to this conservation park, i had no idea how poorly these poor elephants were treated. Lek, a very sweet Thai lady saw how horrible these poor elephants were treated and tried to rescue them. She saved one elephant and rented a piece of land for the elephant to roam. Then she saved a few more, one of which was named Jokia. Her story was one that almost brought a tear to my eye. Thr elephant Jokia worked in the logging industry and was pregnant. She went to the mountains to have her baby elephant, but the baby rolled down the hill and did not survive. After the death of her baby, Jokia refused to work. To force her to work, her owner would sling shot rocks into her eyes, making one of her eyes blind. One day, jokia rebelled, angering her owner, who then took a knife and stabbed her in her remaining good eye. She is now completely blind, but luckily for her was rescued by lek.

One day lek was visited by a wealthy man in texas who was moved by her story and dream. He gave her money with no strings attached to purchase a piece of land for the elephants. The Elephant Nature park now has thirty three elephants and continues to grow. Two babies ans thirty one adults - four males and thirty three females.

The organization stays afloat completely through donations and eco tourism. People travel from all over the world to pay to volunteer there, as well as pay for tours of the park. All of this money goes towards feeding and caring for the elephants. We opted for th two day tour of the park, which ran approximately $180 usd per person, very expensive for Thai standards,but when its for a good cause, i dont mind.

While we were there, we were given the opportunity to feed the elephants. All of the older elephants were very tame and gentle. The people who worked at the park made sure that we were safe at all times. Each elephant had a Mahout, a person who is responsible for caring for the elephant, training and keeping them in check.

The elephants had a very healthy diet of fruits and veges...

Which includes watermelon, pineapples, bananas and mushed corn

It was pretty crazy feeding them. Those trunks are quite nimble and can pick up things straight out of th baskets themselves.

Their skin is super hard and rough. And they are hairrrrry
Each elephant has thier own basket of food and are fed three times a day. It costs approximately 500 baht for every meal which equates to about $17cad a meal, or $52 ish a day.

According to everyone who works at the nature park, the founder, lek, has problems turning away animals in need. Therefore, in addition to being an elephant park, this place is also a dog pound.

There are dogs evvvvverywhere. At first we thought they were all strays but then we found out they all have names and have had all their appropriate shots.

Shortly after lunch, it was shower time! The volunteers and the guests are brought down to the river to help with the elepahtn bath. This bath helps the elephant keep cool during the hot days, as well as clean off some of their elephant stink.

Speaking of elephant stink, their poo actually doesnt smell THAT bad. Not as bad as horse poo or pig poo at farms and what not. I was surprised.

Asian elephants are much smaller than their African counterpart with smaller ears and different toes.

After the adults have their baths, the volunteers and guests are ushered back upstairs while the teenage elephnts go for their bath. Since these kids arent quite that tame yet, the organizers dont want people to be endangered.

After the kids are done thier shower, the another group is brought in for their family feeding.

Baby elephant!!! Ahhhh sooooo cute!!!

Got my nice and slobbery elephant kiss! So sweet :)

I think being an elephant here is pretty awesome. All you do is eat and sleep ...

How awesome is that?

The park is just over an hour outside of chiang mai. Its rainy season now so the sky is constantly cloudy and the mountains are misty. It felt majestic looking out into the park, watching the elephants roam around at dusk.

The following day, we went for a morning walk on the grounds with a lady who had been with the park since it started with the purchased land. She was one of the people who bottle fed the orphaned babies and cared for the first few elephants. She gave us the stories of many of the elephants there, the history of the park and the goal they are working towards.

Their hope is not to put the elephant tourist companies out of business (because that would mean that elephants would lose their livelihoods) but rather, show the rest of thailand that ecotourism is a viable way to survive and change the way tourists and tour operators think.

Seeing elephants in thailand doesnt mean you necessarily have to ride one or see one on the streets...seeing the elephants being happy in park, with no chains and no seats on their back is just as satisfying, if not more.

I enjoyed seeing these elephants clearly very happy and enjoying life. Elephants are naturally herd/family oriented creatures. Even though elephants are not born to the same family, elephants have been known to adopt children, or simply become friends. They are also highly intelligent creatures that can learn very quickly.

Our elephant experience was like none other and if any of you guys ever make your way over to thailand, please consider visiting the Elephant Nature Park to support their cause in SAVING THE ELEPAHANTS.