We took a local bus from Luang Prabang at 9am, having got there at 7:30am to ensure we got a seat. We arrived at Sayaboury bus station, and were collected by the centre's tuk tuk which took us to our lunch spot - a stunning place, with a few little floating huts overlooking a peaceful lake.
There were nine of us in total, two Canadian couples - Étienne and Anick plus Kathia and Frederick, a couple from Germany, and our guide Mr Ken.
After, what has to be said, a pretty bland lunch, we were taken by boat to the centre.
On our approach to the pier we were greeted by a huge mass of noisy, trumpeting elephants. They picked us up with their long trunks, placed us on their broad necks and we rode off into the distance - obviously this was all in my imagination! We actually arrived to see no elephants at all. The location was just incredible though. Set in the Nam Tien Protected Area, right next to Nam Tien lake, with a view of Elephant Mountain - Phou Xang (no I'm not making this bit up). We couldn't of asked for a better setting!
We walked up to the centre and checked into basic, but very clean, and comfortable bungalows overlooking the tranquil lake we'd travelled along.
We dropped our bags off and had a quick freshen up, before meeting Mr Ken in the restaurant area for our briefing.
Mr Ken went over our itinerary for the next three days and told us about the important safety rules, the main one being "no mahout, no go!". He also gave us some information about the area and to never venture into their 106 hectare forest alone. He was answering a few queries from a couple of the others when we started to hear some trumpeting, and no it wasn't someone with a dodgy tummy! Mr Ken, seeing we were all eager to get going, answered the last few questions and led us back towards the lake.
I think most of us have seen elephants before in zoos and wildlife parks etc, but being so close to these huge, magnificent animals in this environment was awe-inspiring. We observed them bathing, drinking and playing together. Suirya, the three and a half year old 'baby' male seemed to be having the most fun, getting up to all sorts of mischief, clambering over the other five adult females and even play biting one of them.
The mahouts take the elephants to the waterside at least three times a day, to make sure they're drinking enough. The average Asian elephant drinks approximately 100 litres of water each day! With the trunk holding around 5-8 litres at a time.
Even though you can't really see any emotion on an elephant's face, you could really sense these elephants were content, especially in this moment. After 'bath time' their respective mahouts climbed back onto their necks, bareback style - the only way they should ever be ridden. The neck is an extremely strong part of their body. It supports the huge head and trunk. The trunk alone weighs on average a massive 150kg! And it uses this huge trunk to shovel in around 10% of it's body weight in food (approximately 250kg) each day!
Their backs on the other hand really cannot support carrying people all day, it can often lead to permanent spinal injuries. Imagine carrying a 15kg backpack all day, every day. Even after an hour or so, you can feel the weight of the backpack. Imagine what the long-term damage could be having it on your back all day for many years. It’s the same with elephants. Not only is there the issue of their spines not being made to carry people, but the actual implications from having the saddle/howdah attached to their backs. The contraption rubs on the back, causing blisters that can get infected.
Not too far from the lakeside, we had our first mahout lesson at the training area. It was here that we were introduced to all the female elephants with their mahouts: Mae dock, the eldest at 51 years old with her mahout Lung thong. Mae Vaen, 37 years old and Suriya's mother, with her mahout Lung Somnuk. Mae Khoun, 36 years old with her mahout Mr Bout. Mae Khram Onh 21 years old with her mahout Mr Salum. And last but not least, Mae Boun Nam, the youngest female at 19 years old with her mahout Mr Son. Mae Khram Onh and Mae Boun Nam, if all going well, can expect calves next summer!
After the introductions, we were told some basic commands and shown how to mount the elephants. After which we took our first rides.
Amelia went first, she mounted Mae Vaen's neck with ease - a natural, and before I knew it she was off! I took some snaps and waited for her return. The walk was relatively short, roughly 5-10 minutes depending on whether the elephant wanted a snack on the way. Elephants eat, on average, for 17 hours a day! When Amelia returned, she was caked in mud. Whereas everyone else barely had a spec of dirt on them. She must've picked the dirtiest elephant here! We then swapped, luckily for me most of the dirt had transferred to her now filthy trousers!
Lung Somnuk beckoned Mae Vaen forward and used the command "Mep Long", to which she knelt down on her front legs. I followed the simple steps to climb up and mount her neck. First holding where the ear meets the head, stepping on to her thigh and swinging my other leg over to mount her neck. Then to keep balance, both my hands were placed firmly on top of Mae Vaen's head. The elephant then automatically stood up. I used the command "Pai, Pai" and with a little jiggle of my knees behind the ears (this means go), she stepped forward. It was such a surreal feeling, it felt like I was a little kid again sat on my dads shoulders for the very first time, but now I was sat on a 2.5 to 5 tonne Asian elephant. The ride was awesome, we only travelled the grounds around the centre, but it definitely gave us a great taster! When it was time to get off, I gave the command "haow" (stop) then tapped her back and said "mep long", she knelt down and I climbed off in the reverse order of getting on.
Once everyone had had their turn, it was feeding time. We treated the elephants to bananas, no peeling required, they eat the lot!
The sun was beginning to set, which meant it was time to take these majestic animals for a long walk into the forest for bed time. It was a terrific experience just walking next to these giants. We didn't follow directly behind them though, as not only do they break wind a lot, but they also like to be able to see where you are. If you are at the tail end, you need to be at least a metre and a half behind, in case they feel alarmed and whip their tail or kick their legs. They're also very sensitive to sound. Their hearing is amongst the best of all land animals, so you have to make sure not to frighten them with any loud noises.
Unfortunately the elephants have to be chained at night, due to the facility not having electric fences and being close to local farms and banana crops - a favourite snack from what we'd seen! If they had free roam with no electric fences it could lead to serious consequences. Sadly, elephants have been shot by farmers in similar circumstances. The centre knows it's not ideal to have them on chains, but they do the best with what they've got. The elephants are given a 30 metre chain and placed in the forest, on a fresh patch with plenty to eat, each night. It's amazing to see how they are able to adapt and move their chain around with their dexterous trunk, to avoid getting stuck or tangled around the trees. For some of them, the chain can turn into a sort of comfort blanket, we were told of one elephant wanting to carry hers around all the time!
We then went back to our bungalow to freshen up and change for dinner. Dinner was great, good portions and very tasty Laos cuisine. After dinner we were introduced to Annabelle, she was a Spanish biologist and head of the elephants wellbeing. We sat listening to her for a good 2 hours. She told us all about the baby bonus programme. There is a couple of pressing matters with trying to help with the critically low elephant reproductive rates in Lao. Firstly, a lot of captive elephants are used for work in industries like logging. Sometimes the mother is overworked during her 22 month pregnancy. If the calf survives this ordeal, it then needs its mother's milk for at least another two years. The mother is often returned back to work way before this though - prior to it being safe for the offspring to feed on solids. Ultimately the calf becomes too weak to survive. Its horrible to hear, but I can understand why it happens. In total it's around 4 years without the mahouts main source of income. Most of them literally cannot survive this long. And then there are the big tourist camps, frequently the mother and calf are kept in extremely small enclosures, where everyone can touch and feed them both. This situation will present a lot of stress on the mother and calf, and is a real problem with tragic consequences.
But now the centre has come up with this innovative baby bonus programme which offers any mahouts in Laos with pregnant working elephants, the opportunity to come to the centre, receive food, accommodation and a wage for the duration. Alternatively if they're being used for farming or logging the centre has tractors they can use as a replacement. Before the programme starts the mahouts have to agree and sign a contract, stating the centre has part ownership of the baby. Having this contract in place should prevent the baby being used for any illegal activities, or even being taken out of Laos. Hopefully with this programme, they can encourage mahouts to breed from their elephants and in turn slowly help repopulate the Asian elephant community in Laos.
We all went to bed fairly early that night, for some I think the excitement and adrenalin had taken its toll! For others (us) it might've been for wanting the next day to come round quickly!

We woke early the next day, like kids at Christmas we were eager to get up and get going with the day ahead. After we scoffed down some Laos noodle soup for breakfast, a small group of of us including me, Amelia, Étienne, Anick, Kathia and Frederick (the German couple were on a different itinerary), and obviously with the mahouts ("no mahout, no go") too, went to collect the elephants. Most mahouts have a very close bond with their elephants. For many of them the knowledge has been passed down through many generations. Future mahouts are sometimes playing with elephant calves before they can even speak! When they're around 15 years old they are paired up with an elephant of roughly the same age. As you can imagine, after a fair few years together, their relationship will be extremely close.
We waited with our guide, whilst the mahouts searched for their elephants. About 10 minutes later they appeared out of nowhere, with the only slight noise coming from the rustle of leaves. It's amazing how agile and quiet they can walk with their huge pillar like legs and big chunky feet. On dry ground their body weight is so well distributed, on their four felted soles, that they practically leave no trace! So if someone ever says to you that you're walking as 'noisy as a herd of elephants' you can correct them! We followed the elephants through the fairly dense jungle and up some very steep tracks. The elephants tackled these with ease! They're exceptionally surefooted, and able to walk on slippery slopes no man or woman could remain upright on. On the way we had to avoid a few hazards, including big black and white striped dengue fever mozzies and broken off spiky branches lying around. I almost punctured my foot on one. It went the whole way through my trainer's outer and inner sole! All I can say is I'm glad I wasn't wearing my paper thin converse.
We returned back to the main track where we mounted an elephant of our choice. I chose the elderly but elegant Mae dock, led by her friendly mahout Lung Thong. We led the way with only the young Suriya ahead, which seemed a little odd - the whole herd following the baby. But anyway, we were loving it, it was an epic start to the day! Amelia's elephant took a bit of disliking to one of the guides trying to boss her around, so bashed him with her trunk! No harm done though. I think Amelia and her elephant were well suited!
We took them to the training centre to swap over with the mahouts, as they were now going to take the elephants down to the water. Unfortunately we were not able to do this, but with good reason. As you can imagine it can be very dangerous being in the water with these huge powerful animals.
Whilst we were watching them, a 32 year old male elephant known as Thong khoun came to join, with his mahout Mr Bom. Apparently he's recently been acting a bit aggressive - they think he might be a bit sexually frustrated! So the centre has wisely decided to keep him away from tourists for the time being. Thong Khuon loved seeing some of the females and having a good sniff around their nether regions, apparently this is a way he can check hormones etc. Elephants have a highly sensitive sense of smell, better than most other animals, including dogs!
Shortly after the big male arrived, we heard this loud trumpeting coming from up the hill, it was Suriya! Im not sure if he'd escaped from somewhere, but he came trundling down the hill to the join the rest of his 'family', they too were now joining in with the trumpeting. It was so loud but it bought a huge smile to all of our faces - what an extraordinary experience! They had only been apart for a few minutes but it seemed like it had been an eternity for them. Some scientists believe elephants have an equivalent, or perhaps even more complex emotional section of the brain than humans!
Once things had calmed down, we were led back to the training area and given the opportunity to go on the elephants again, obviously none of us were going to turn this down!
The treat after today's training was sugar cane - they went nuts for it, and it wasn't long before the five females had polished off three huge bucket loads!
The only elephant hospital in Laos, is right here at the Elephant Conservation Centre. Unfortunately the two vets that normally work here, were out in the field attending to a very poorly elephant.
Before we went to the hospital we were allowed to go and see one of the elephants having treatment from Annabelle on its foot. A mahout earlier that day noticed a small wound near one of its toe nails. Elephants, although thick skinned, can be very sensitive to wounds like this, their bodies can take a very long time to heal. So it's essential that injuries like this are picked up quickly, treated and kept clean to avoid any further problems.
Around the hospital we were told about the health care the centre provides all over the country for free, only travel costs for the vets are excluded.
After lunch we were shown Annabelle's project, a socialisation/breeding area. She even has her own little watch tower, which she was more than happy to show us. We could only spend a short while watching the elephants before we had to go.
We'd heard over the last 24 hours about a 3 week old baby elephant just down the lake from here, at the centre's nursery. That afternoon we travelled by boat to see her. From the boat it was a shortish hike up hill, which also included us blokes carrying chopped up banana tree for the mother (apparently good for her milk). The nursery is a plot of land owned by the centre, with copious amounts of food and plenty of space. It's reserved just for the mothers and babies. We weren't allowed too close for reasons mentioned, but we were still within 15-20 metres. Although the mahout was close at all times the baby was curious and to our delight managed to sneakily push its way past a couple of times to come within touching distance!
After our visit, the boat took us out to the middle of the lake for a nice refreshing swim, the only downside to this huge lake was the masses of weed, which prevents you being able to swim in just off the shore. Even the boat struggles to get through it, the captain had to shut off the engine and dive in to clear the propeller at one point!
It was another early night for most that night, me, Amelia, Kathia and Frederick were the last up, but even then we were in bed by 10:30pm.
The following morning was much the same as the previous, apart from there was a much bigger group of us, so we weren't given the opportunity to ride the elephants back to the centre. Instead we enjoyed the walk along side them.
At our last mahout lesson, we learnt our lefts ("Sai") and rights ("Kwa"). Whilst waiting for our turn, we saw one of the 'newbies', a short plump lady almost split her trousers whilst trying her best to mount the elephant! In the end two tour guides helped lift her on. Just before my last ride, the mahout taught me a different method of getting on to the neck. I leapfrogged over the trunk and head to sit facing backwards. I then swivelled around and was ready to "Pai"! Getting off was even easier using this 'new route', the elephant knelt forward and I simply slid off over the top of her head.
We were given some free time before lunch, so me and Amelia went to the onsite museum, for a brief look around and to take in some more interesting elephant facts.
Just before lunch we went back to the socialisation area to observe from up in the watchtower. I was surprised no one else had the same idea. It was great sitting up there, just the two of us observing the elephants eat, flapping their ears to dissipate heat, and swinging their tails to drive off flies and insects - the signs of a healthy elephant. We also saw how sensitive they are to the smallest movements or quietest noises coming from the forest, for example the shadows from a flock of birds flying over was enough to alert them.
After lunch we gathered our things, said our goodbyes to the amazing staff and headed back to Sayaboury bus station.

We chose the Elephant Conservation Centre after careful consideration and research. If done correctly, riding an elephant is no more cruel than horse riding, but please do your research and make sure the elephants are treated with the upmost respect they deserve.

Joined by Étienne and Anick, we caught a bus to Vang Vien...