Ok so a bit of a pre warning with this blog. I promise you I'm not turning into a full on Eco warrior hippie but what we saw, heard & experienced has opened up my mind to something I didn't know and I feel compelled to share.

In previous travels I have seen, riden & bathed with elephants. They're amazing creatures & when you have an up close & personal experience you can see the emotion these creatures feel.

When you have that experience in Asia, they are all accompanied by its buddy, "the mahout". I was always led to believe the mahout is someone that grows up with the elephant and that the bond you see is born out of trust. Like the elephant treats the mahout like a brother.

Historically elephants were domesticated to listen to mahouts commands to help work in their village. They would be great at assisting with logging and other tasks. Then for Thailand logging became illegal so there were thousands of elephants now out of a job. The mahout and the family turned to many things to make the money & all of them involve tourists. From street begging in tourist areas with their elephants to offering treks where you ride the elephant through the jungle to trips where you can learn to "mahout".

I have ridden an elephant many times & never knew that the method used to domesticate these elephants was anything other than time & love from the mahout. (I will get to what we found out a little later).

When we were picking this park we decided it would be lovely to see some elephants in a more natural environment. Simply, we were thinking of photos & that we didn't want to ride any elephants. The hostel suggested a place called Elephant Nature Park. A place started by a lady called Lek who had a different vision for the domesticated elephants. She envisioned a place where they could live out their life, retire, create families & live as elephants.

We were picked up from the hostel around 8:30 and headed off for another hour drive back into the jungle. On the way we were shown a DVD giving us a brief introduction the history of elephants in Thailand as above.

Our drive was lovely through the hills but I think both Sy & I found our jaws on the floor when we turned the corner and could see the valley on the edge of the park. There was a herd of elephants crossing the river the grass on the other side and it just looked so natural. With lush forested mountains all around and a large grass area in the middle & a river running through it, the place looked amazing. It looked a little bit like the lost kingdom just with elephants replacing the dinosaurs.

On arrival we had a safety talk as they are still massive animals capable of doing a lot of damage. Then it was straight out to meet some of the 30 adults they have there. There are some real horror stories here and although I cant remember names and individual stories I will list some of the main contenders.

- Broken legs/ankles/hips from logging accidents
- Leg injuries from standing on landmines near the border
- Being chained for months at a time for forced breeding & then damaged or broken backs/hips from over breeding
- Blind in one or both eyes from their mahouts or other villagers and farmers. Mainly from slingshots or stabbings.

At first you feel so much pity for the animals, some are so obviously damaged. You watch them move having found a new way to walk around the broken bone or bent back. But then you look a little deeper, they are all walking, all eating & drinking, all bathing & have friends they socialise with. They're happy. If they weren't they wouldn't be doing any of the above. The fully sighted elephants forging friendships with the blind elephants, communicating to them what they can't see. For these adult elephants we can feed & take the opportunity to be up close.

We were introduced 1st to a lovely pair of friends, one with a broken hip from over breeding. As you cant operate on an elephant, the breaks heal very slowly & misshapen. Then onto an old lady who was happy to be resting after many years of work. Narissa, our guide was taking photos of people with the elephant but when Sy & I went in she just nuzzled in much like a horse does.

We then headed to another pair to feed them. We say down and just watched them be. This one elephant must have really liked me and kept coming in for a nuzzle. She loved a rub between the eyes. Narissa told me she was feeling the love and responding. To me it felt like a lovely intimate moment between the two of us.

As we walk around meeting these amazing creatures and hearing their background I feel so much love for them. It's beautiful that for the rest of their life all they will feel is love from the staff and visitors. Each elephant still has a mahout here but they are not allowed to use force to control their elephant and its a lovely bond to witness. Some of the elephants have new mahouts as the old one is attached to too many bad memories for the elephant. The saying "an elephant never forgets" is biologically true as that area of the brain is proportionately larger than humans. Horrible to think they remember all that was done to them.

We stop for lunch and get the buckets ready as this afternoon they all get taken to the river & we splash water over them to cool them down. They then have free time to play in the river.
It was so much fun watching these 3 best friends we had bathed go off and play, spraying water at each other & trumpeting.

We were directed to the sky walk for when the big family herd came to bathe. This is a group that has formed by itself but as their medical needs are minimal they have been allowed to spend most of the day over the other side of the river. The mahouts are with them incase needed but otherwise they're left to their own devices.

After bathing we were directed to a conference room to watch a film about how Lek started this park and how it has grown to what it is today. If I can find a link to it I shall post it on this blog at the end.

So my understanding is as follows. Lek is helping the injured elephants but also she is trying to raise awareness & promote a different approach to how people domesticate their elephants.
I had no idea this was happening but the process is called Pajaan. I had tears rolling down my face as I watched. Baby elephants are taken from their mothers fairly young and put through a process referred to as 'crushing'. They are stabbed, poked, restrained & hurt until the heart, soul & mind of the elephant is crushed. He learns to fear man but to obey every command he gives.

ANY elephant I have ridden, seen, petted or fed would have gone through this. I was horrified. I felt utterly s*** for putting any money in the hands of people that had done this to an animal.

Every hostel in Chiang Mai promotes elephant trekking or mahout training. The demand from tourists is such that any new elephants born from one in the tourist world will be put through the pajaan too.

Lek is using her park to show a different way. The 3 babies (2 born there) & 2 teenagers have never gone through the pajaan so she is hoping to get them ready to release back into the wild.

After the film we checked in & spent the last few hours just watching the elephants do elephant things before dinner. Unknown to us but or those starting the 7 day volunteer program there is a welcome ceremony conducted by the local village shaman & the elders. Sy was picked to represents those of us on an overnight stay and went and sat in a circle around the shaman. The ceremony involved lots of chanting, singing, flowers & have blessed cotton wound around our wrists. Everyone was invited to have their cotton wound on by one of the elders. It was so random but I felt very lucky to be experiencing the ceremony. When I looked over Sy was struggling to keep a straight face at the shamans crazy singing/clucking/warbling!!

Our accommodation was a simple hut but I can safely say we have never had a shower with a view of elephants! Not just any elephants but mum & newborn Navaam. When we arrived he was 6 days old. Although the two were in a hold until Navaam gets stronger all the elephants from across the park pop by to congratulate mum & visit the baby.

I couldn't resist so before dinner we snuck down to watch Navaam run circles around his mum. To our surprise Lek was there, I never thought I'd have the chance to meet this woman who cares so much to create this who environment for them. Then it was her thanking us or visiting the park. I told her I should be thanking her.

We spent the rest of the night the people that we had been with for the day! We had a great laugh with Lauren & Nic from the States & Ben and Lindsey from Canada. The local staff joined us towards the end for a shared language lesson and we went to bed with a big smile on our faces!!

We were woken up by the elephants trumpeting!!! What an amazing alarm clock, I can safely say I don't think that will happen again!!

We were up early as Jodie, one of the most amazing staff members was taking us on a walk out into the park to walk alongside the elephants. She was an utter expert in elephant communication as was pointing out everything they did. We walked over to the big family (after a safety briefing as we may have to run). They were intrigued and came out from the tall grass, across the river to greet us. Jodie advised us all to keep going as they could stampede. Especially the little ones as they know no discipline from humans. We respected their space (although a close call at times) and got some amazing photos of them in as near to their habitat as it got.

The park is at capacity at the moment but Lek is always trying to buy more land. The only problem is the people charging Lek as if she is a foreigner rather than a Thai national. She explained there is less forest now as people are chopping the trees for agriculture. Something that was to become really visible a few days later.

We met many elephants on our walk and first hand saw angry truck thumping, location rumbling & happy trumpeting! It was something else, I kept having to pinch myself.

It's not only elephants as Lek and the staff have rescued over 350 dogs and 70 cats. Most from the Bangkok floods last year. They have massive runs to hang out in & a hospital on site to treat any problems. We went in some of the runs to get cuddles & I was mobbed by happy doggy tongues and wagging tails. It was lovely to see!!

To finish off our last day there we went back to see Navaan the baby, today he is one week old. Lek was inside the hold again bonding and watching him.
He is a miracle baby really. The first baby to be born of both mum & dad from the park and the mum has a bad foot injury die to stepping on a landmine.

Then I was bowled over. Lek invited us into the hold. I was acutely aware of possessive mothers on this situation so kept a happy distance. Navaan was playing in his water bath & being really
cute. Lek was telling us that they usually don't run for a month but he was running already. Much like a toddler does with no brake system figured out yet. Ill never forget the bouncey floppy eared run. Super cute.

I felt unbelievable honoured to be allowed in with them as did Sy judging by the look in his eyes everytime I caught them. We both couldn't stop saying 'wow'.

It was time to go so I took the opportunity to thank Lek and got back in the van to go home. I got so emotional in the van driving away from that park. One woman has done so much & allowed me to learn & be part of it. Watching the big herd as we curved around the corner leaving the park was breathtaking again. I wouldn't be in the least bit surprised if we came back here again.

LINK - http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0510/feature5/video.html

LINK - http://www.elephantnaturepark.org/

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