Day 1
Arrived to Elephant Nature Park around 9am. We were shown around the park and got to meet a few of the elephants. One of them was blind. It was used for logging in Burma, it's baby passed away so the elephant refused to work. To force it to work they stabbed it in it's eyes. This is just the start of the cruelty that we are learning about that is happening to domestic elephants in Asia. There are no laws to protect domestic elephants in Thailand. Basically who ever owns that elephant can treat them how they like.

Lek Chailert is the founder of the conservation. She is an amazing and has dedicated her life to elephants. At 16 she witnessed an elephant getting brutally beaten. Since then it has become her life. She has received several awards, 'hero of the planet' and 'hero of Asia' by time magazine. She has also featured in National Geographic, discovery channel and BBC. We felt very in awe meeting her. She has set up the park for disabled, abused and elderly elephants. But it has ended up being much more than that. She is currently in the process of writing an act to make it illegal to beat domestic elephants in Thailand. Her aim is to show that she can teach younger elephants by using love and positive reinforcement instead of pain.

Lunch is at half 11 everyday. Everything here is vegetarian but the food is really good and so healthy. There is a cat kingdom and dog sanctuary within the park. They keep around 400 dogs here. Some roam the grounds while others are kept in cages/runs. Most of them were rescued from the floods in Bangkok in 2011. We had a talk that afternoon and learnt about our safety rules. Basically if an elephant runs, you run. Each elephant has it's own mahoot with it. These are all refugees from Burma. Lek (the founder) provides them with food, accommodation, jobs for their wives and a school for their children.

Sarah and I witnessed an elephant being bit with a slingshot by a mahoot. We were really shocked. That evening we spoke to Lek about it. She stated to her husband 'get rid of him'. She said she was really hurt and she gives them so much here.

4pm is elephant bathing time. Some of the elephants stand in the river and you can throw buckets of water over them. We found it was more fun to watch the elephants play in the water independently.

In the evening we had a welcome ceremony. We were given white bracelets they are meant to take away our bad luck.

Asleep by 9pm, Sarah and I are in heaven!

Day 2
Awoke by 400 dogs howling at 6am. No need for an alarm clock here. It is also freeeeezing here overnight. Like being back home. We headed to breakfast for 7am then work at 8am. Our groups task was cleaning elephant poo out of the shelters. It was surprisingly satisfying. We are also mentoring a group of school children from a local school, so they are shadowing us. They are spending a few days here. Lek is hoping to educate the new generation that elephants don't need to be treated the way they are.

In the afternoon we picked bamboo leaves. These were for the old elephants who find it hard to chew the fruit.

We then watched a documentary on one of the elephants Hope who Lek had brought up. She reared it from a baby and spent 3 months with it 24/7. She wanted to show that she can train the elephants through positive reinforcement. We learnt about the 'domestic elephants' in Thailand and how they train them. To start training them they need to 'break their spirit'. They use a training crush, which is a box they lock them in. They beat them with hooks and nails for 7days.
Targeting their ears which are the most sensitive part of an elephant. They rip them away from their mothers and they can be heard screaming for days. This way of training them is so common in Thailand that they call it a ceremony. After they are released from the cage there is still weeks of intense training. They use hooks to smash their skulls and make holes in their ears. If their spirit is then broken they are then used for street begging, trekking with tourists or performances such as painting. I had no idea this went on and it is tourists that are feeding this business. I probably would of been one of those tourists that went trekking on the elephants having no idea what really goes on.

In our spare time Sarah and I visited the dog shelter. We took two dogs for a walk, it was very stressful I had a dog that used to live near by so he tried to pull me there. He then refused to come back so I had to carry him back to the shelter. He wasn't a small dog either, he was also covered in scabs. We had the option to spend an afternoon here but we both thought it would be too depressing. They are over run with dogs, most of which are in horrible conditions. Quite a few with no back legs too.

During our free time we were able to wander around the park with the leaders. We witnessed Lek walking over to the elephants. One of them recognised her and started to run towards her. She put her arms out and the elephant wrapped her in his trunk, it was so lovely. They really trust her.

Day 3
It was our turn to clean up the park today. We spent the morning sweeping up bamboo and loading it into the truck. Toby one of the leaders told us to climb to the top of one of the elephants trees for a picture. We weren't exactly working hard today!

Another job that we had to do for the week was unloading watermelons, pumpkins and bananas from the trucks. We got a good system going and were able to throw the watermelon down the line. A few got smashed which they weren't too happy about, whoops! It took a good few hours though. I can't believe how much food the elephants get through. As we had finished our job so quickly Stan took us to be with the elephants. We stood in the middle of the herd and fed them bananas. I love how the all have different personalities. Some would prefer them peeled and throw them off the floor if they weren't.
One of my favourite times was sitting to watch the elephants have a mud bath. You get so much more of it by just observing the elephants, you get to see how they really interact together. They cover themselves in the mud to protect them from the sun and to keep them warm at night. Some of them choose not to have a mud bath but they try to encourage them all to do it.
We had a thai cultural class that evening. It's so much more than just elephants this week. We learnt some basic thai too.

Day 4
Another activity they offered this week was a visit to a school. This was mainly children from the local hill tribes. They showed us round the school. Each classroom was dedicated to teaching the children a different vocation. One was white water rafting, another massage and jewellery making. We spent some time with the younger children teaching them some basic English. One of the boys asked Sarah to draw an elephant. He then proceeded to put a bench on the elephants back and a man sat on the neck with a hook in its hand hitting the elephants head. He then acted out the elephant getting smashed in the head. We were both so shocked. It just seems impossible to be able to change years of these 'traditions'. But I can now see why Lek brings the children into the conservation. She really is a very clever woman.

Our afternoon job was collecting rice straws. Which is basically collecting bundles of hay and loading them into the truck. It's way harder than it sounds. The leaders took us tubing afterwards. We started at the top of the river and floated back to the park. It was very relaxing. It made it even more amazing that towards the end we could see the elephants crossing the river. Really a once in a life time opportunity we are experiencing.

Day 5
Another day of unloading fruit and mushing bananas for the older elephants. They mix it was oats and the elephants love it. We are really starting to fall in love with this place. Breakfast watching the sun come up every morning while the elephants stand around you is something special.
We spent some time with Lek waking through the park. She sits under the elephants and asks you to join her. She told us she isn't doing this for our benefit but for the mahoots. She wants to show them that you don't need to beat the elephants and that they can be trusted.

Day 6
This was our last full day. It was a normal day of work and collecting more rice straws.
In the evening we have a special dinner. We all ate on the floor and enjoyed a traditional thai meal. My god was it spicy. They have definitely been making the meals more westernised through the week. One of the local schools also performed some dances for us.

Day 7
The day we had to leave :(. I could have definitely done 2 weeks here. It has been one of my favourite parts of the trip. Saying goodbye to everyone was sad. We had such a lovely group and we all got on so well. Such a diverse group of people. We all arranged to meet in Chiang Mai that evening.