Thailand - Elephant Nature Park

After a day and night in Chiang Mai, we were picked up and brought to the Elephant Nature Park where we stayed for 3 days and 2 nights. It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. It also was probably the closest I will ever come to going to Jurassic Park. The Elephant Nature Park is an elephant sanctuary. Elephants there are not made to do tricks or be ridden. They have all been rescued and are allowed to just hang out and be elephanty. Elephants in Thailand are endangered, so wild ones are protected. However, owned elephants are considered livestock and have the same rights as cows: none. Livestock elephants used to be used for logging, but this is now illegal in Thailand (of course illegally some still are worked like this). Most therefore are used in the tourism industry either to be ridden, or to beg in the streets in the city. We were shown how elephants are trained in Thailand. I think I can handle seeing a lot of things on TV, but watching the documentary of elephant training brought me very close to vomiting and crying. I can't stress enough how horrible it is and I implore anyone interested in elephants not to ride them. Instead, go to the Elephant Nature Park and play with them!!

 Many of the elephants were old and injured, which is why their previous owners sold them. Some elephants had been blinded by previous owners, others had broken hips from forced breeding. Some had happier stories: some were just really old and their previous owners wanted them to have a nice retirement (this was the case for village elephants more than logging or ridden elephants) and a few had been rescued at such a young age that they never had to undergo the torture training. Some little tiny ones were even born at the park!

The woman who created the park is a truly inspirational woman. Her name is Sangduen "Lek" Chailert. Lek means small. Her story is pretty amazing. There is a ton of information about her available here. I was absolutely honoured to be able to meet her and hear her speak.

So what did we do for 3 days? We fed the elephants treats (pineapples, bananas, sugar cane, squash and watermelon), we bathed them in the river, and we just hung out with them. One of the coolest moments of our stay was on the third day. By this time it was only us 3 and our guide, since the rest of our group had left. Being such a small group we just went to sit with the elephants in the morning and relax with them. We sat with two elephants who were friends. One of them had been blinded by her previous owner when she refused to work after the death of her baby, and the other elephant had become her friend and guardian at the park. Anyways, we go to sit right by them as they spoke to each other. It was amazing. They speak using this deep rumblings, almost too low for us to hear, and they were rubbing their trunks gently on each other.

Other highlights include seeing a super young baby. Sadly, his mother has a horribly injured food from a mine, and so they have to be kept in a cage. If outside of the cage, the mother panics when she can't keep up with her baby and trumpets and all the elephants freak out. Annyways, we saw the baby playing with our guide and it was the cutest thing ever. Don't worry though, they go on walks outside their cage too, and once he's older they can roam the park with their friends. Also we saw a pregnant elephant and got to feel her fetus moving inside her. Feels odd to use the word fetus for something that is much bigger than me!!

I really could go on and on about this park. It was absolutely amazing. I also could post hundreds of pictures, but I have restrained myself. Here are a few. It was magical and perfect and you should go. Visit the Elephant Nature Park! They also have rescued dogs, cat, cows and oxen, just in case elephants were't enough to draw you in.

Baby boy running. He was very fast!

Is that fruit in  your hand?

This is the elephant who had broken hips. While healed,
she has extremely uneven legs and walks with a very
crazy gait. 

Just a few months old!! This is the baby baby boy.

This is the food of the baby's mother who can't run. Ouch.
The purple is medicine.

Out for a walk

This woman is Lek, the park founder. It was amazing to
her. The elephants weren't bad either!

OMG WATERRRRR says the baby

Fruit?

The elephant skin was actually very rough, as were the hairs.

Dirt gets pretty stuck on them.

Buffalo and doggies stay at the park too. Here is a brave
doggie being a rascal.

I got to watch this lady eat for a while. It was amazing.

Beautiful baby girl.

Baby boy with his little tusks.

The hairs on the tails were so thick they felt like finger nails.

This is the sleeping place of the elephant with the broken
hip. The ground is elevated so she can get up easily. If
you look closely, you can see the imprint of her in the dirt.
Her coiled trunk can be seen on the right.

Um.. you have some grass on your head.

This big guy was named Jungle Boy. He is one of the two
male teenagers are the park. Because he is a male teenager,
he is kind of a jerk. He's a little aggressive to the other
elephants (aggressively flirtatious) and people. So for
now, while he's a little too rambunctious, he must be
chained to his house.

These are the two friends we sat with while they chatted.
It was amazing. Also amazing is that when the blind
elephant, Jokkia, panics, she trumpets and calls her friend, Mae Perm.
Mae Perm then also trumpets when coming to the rescue.
Meanwhile, Hope, the other rambunctious teenage boy was
raised by Mae Perm so he also joins in for the rescue.

Play with meeee

Oh just eating a banana tree.

Bath time!

We called this herd "the cool kids". They are the biggest
herd that formed in the park and includes the baby girl and
boy. Because the boy can be a little rough, we visitors
aren't allowed to play with him, so they get bath time
with staff only.

After bathtime, some elephants put on a nice fresh layer
of much.

Nice and .. clean?