I awake early, as usual, but today it is because I am excited. We are going to spend the day at an elephant refuge. Here they have 16 elephants. They care for these gentle giants providing them a safe refuge. Elephants were once used for heavy labour in Thailand, hauling logs down the mountains and other such work. Some time ago this was outlawed. The people who owned the elephants could not care for them without the income they made from the work so the elephants were left to fend for themselves. Elephants have no stomach, they basically eat all the time and it more or less comes right back out the other end. They can consume 1/4 their body weight in a day, which would be around 500 pounds of food.
The elephants would roam into the cities and can be very destructive. Eventually the government allowed these elephant farms or refuges to adopt the elephants and operate within the boundaries of tourism. Some people object to this, believing that it is taking advantage of or mistreating the elephants, but it allows these elephants to have a safe environment where they are cared for and fed.
The Asian elephant is smaller than the African elephant and a darker color, more dark brown or almost blackish.
First we learn a little about the elephants, then we are taken to see them. We feed them bananas to get used to them, hopefully make friends as we will be riding them bareback. This is better for the elephant than the baskets you often see perched in the middle of their back, often with 2 or 3 people in one basket plus the mahout up front. The elephant farm that we visit does not allow these. We will ride alone, just us mounted on the neck just behind the ears of the elephant, this is the strongest place and the least cumbersome for the animal. They also only allow one trip per day for the elelphant.
Just a light snack before we start out. Call it bribery so they don't dump me off!First we learn how to mount the elephant. On command the elephant lowers itself to the ground and hold up one knee for us to stand on and pull ourself up. We settle on top of the giant animal, tucked behind its ears which hep to hold us in place. We can either hold onto its head or a rope that is around the elephant behind us. A mahout walks with us guiding the animal and ensuring we are safe.
My elephant is young. Its name is Nuun and she only wants to eat, stopping constantly to pull out great clumps of grass or plants. My mahout, Akachai, gently coaxes her along, prodding her to continue.
We make our way to the river. Here our mahout mounts the elephant with us to guide it across the river, then up the hill on the other side and into the jungle. We make our way through the jungle, stopping for lunch and to give the elephants a rest. We have lunch, pad thai and sticky rice wrapped in little packets of banana leaves tied with bamboo. The packets are treats for the elephants. When we are done we feed the banana leaves to our elephants. There is one big male elephant. He comes to thank us for our treat and surprises us with a great big elephant kiss!
The elephants are hot and they love the mud. We give him a mud bath and massage, trying out the mud on ourselves. A free facial!
Back on our elephants, we make our way through the jungle back to the river. Here the river is deeper and faster. My elephant is smaller and the water is deeper than she is high. Since I have a bit of a fear of water (understatement) Preeda, who is in charge of the mahouts and us, climbs on Nuun with me and we wade into the rushing river. The water is over the elephants head for a second, then she swims with us on her back. Preeda says, just hold onto my shoulders and don't get off.... as if!!! The river is not wide and soon we are on solid footing in the river. We slide off the elephants who love the water. We play, we wash the elephants, we massage them and thank them for the journey. They suck water into their trunks and spray us. It is like children in a water park. Free. Play. Abandonment. All we hear is the joy and laughter as a bunch of adults play in the water with their elephants.
We are tired, dirty, wet and more than a little stiff and sore. But it has been exhilarating, exciting and so much fun! These gentle beasts have become friends and made their way into our hearts.
What a day!
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