Morning dawned cool and crisp in Chiang Mai. Though it never gets all that cold in Thailand, the northern provinces do have chilly winter mornings, and I was pleasantly surprised by the weather.
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| morning in the north of Thailand |
After breakfast and coffee on the banks of the Ping River, it was time to begin our next big adventure - really the main reason that we had come all the way to Chiang Mai.
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| coffee on the Ping River |
About five years ago, my mom, brother, and I visited Chiang Mai and went on a trek through the northern highlands with a trio of elephants named Pang, Pon, and Pop.
The Blog of Michael Desrosiers: Trekking the Elephant Highlands
The trek was operated by an organization called Elephant Nature Park, which rescues elephants from the teak logging and tourist industry and rehabilitates them in a safe and ethical environment. When you are coming to Thailand, it's really important to choose an ethical organization when you want to interact with elephants. I've done lots of research on this, and I can guarantee that Elephant Nature Park is fantastic.
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| Elephant Nature Park, Chiang Mai |
We had so much fun on our day hike that Mom and I decided to visit the Elephant Nature Park's headquarters in Mae Taeng District of Chiang Mai for an overnight elephant experience.
It took about ninety minutes to wind our way up the mountains to the Elephant Nature Park, and we arrived just before lunchtime (for us and for the elephants).
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| bunches of bunches of bananas |
After checking in, we had some time to look around the headquarters. Elephant Nature Park is a really cool organization, and they don't just rescue elephants! They also have a dog and cat rescue operation and are involved with rescuing other animals throughout Thailand as well.
The headquarters has a few offices, an open-air dining area (that looks kind of like a summer camp mess hall), a gift shop, a cafe, and some beautiful gardens where native northern Thai flowers are planted in an eclectic arrangement of recycled bike tires.
After a vegetarian buffet lunch, we dropped our bags off at the guesthouse on site where we would be staying and met up with our guide and the rest of the group.
The guide led us down to the river, where three elephants were enjoying cooling off in the fast-flowing waters of the Ping. From time to time, the elephants would flop down in the water, rolling onto their sides so that the water flowed over them completely, except for their trunks, which they would use like a snorkel. It must have felt really nice to cool off from the hot tropical sun.
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| bathing in the river |
What makes Elephant Nature Park different from other elephant parks in Thailand is that here, the elephants are able to live according to their own schedule. It is very much a hands-off park. There are no performances, no shows, and absolutely no riding. The elephants are allowed to live as they would in the wild; to go where they want (within the boundaries of the park, of course), and to do what they want when they want to.
Each elephant is tended to by a mahout whose job it is to look after them and keep them safe and out of trouble, but the elephants are never given any commands or forced to do anything. Elephant Nature Park is first and foremost a safe place for elephants to escape from abusive situations.
These abusive situations are tragically common. Elephants are still used in Thailand in the logging industry (not to mention in the tourist industry), and injuries are extremely common. Elephant Nature Park raises funds to rescue abused and injured animals to give them a safe place to live out the rest of their long lives in comfort and peace.
Other elephants had been injured in other ways. As the trio of elephants climbed out of the river following their bath, our guide pointed out the bright purple waterproof bandage wrapped around the front foot of one of the elephants.
She had stepped on a landmine near the Burmese border, he told us.
Burma is still undergoing its 70-year civil war - the longest in history, and the hills and jungles at the border are still littered with landmines. In fact, many of the workers and mahouts at the Elephant Nature Park were refugees from Burma, as evidenced by the tanaka, a traditional thick sandalwood paste they wore on their cheeks as protection from sun and insects, and to keep the face cool.
A bit about a visit to a refugee camp and school in the far northwest of Thailand: The Blog of Michael Desrosiers: Mae Sot Part 1
Some photos from my trip to Burma to see what it's like in the country: The Blog of Michael Desrosiers: Across a Golden Land - Second Edition
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| she stepped on a landmine |
It was time for the elephants to eat as well.
An Asian elephant can eat up to 300 pounds of food per day, and most of their day is spent eating. As a matter of fact, there's no faster way to befriend an elephant than to offer them something to eat.
The next few hours were spent touring the sprawling grounds of the Elephant Nature Park and meeting some of the elephants.
The lifespan of an Asian elephant is very similar to that of a human. One elephant we met was 80 years old!
There were babies as well. Baby elephants are cute, but they are also dangerous. They are super curious and want to play, but a playful 500 lb baby can easily trample you by accident. Whenever we were near the babies, the mahouts were always on hand to make sure they didn't get out of control.
At one point, one of the babies ran up to me and began headbutting me, trying to get me to play. It was actually really scary! I knew that if I pushed back, or if I ran off, the elephant would chase me and run me down. I had to walk to the side very carefully, while the mahout called the baby over.
They are super cute, though!
Just like in nature, elephants are raised by their mothers and nannies, older elephants who help take care of the babies.
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| curious babies |
While the adult elephants can more or less be trusted to be calm and relaxed, the babies are a real handful. One in particular was really insistent in getting through a fence to the area where some of the mahouts were cooking their lunch. The little gal wouldn't leave the fence alone and was doing everything possible to either pull it down or step over it!
She eventually had to get a stern talking to by her mahout.
Before finishing our walk, we got to meet the founder of the Elephant Nature Park, Sangduen ‘Lek’ Chailert, who has been recognized as the Ford Foundation's Hero of the Planet (2001), one of Time magazine's Heroes of Asia (2005), and one of six Women Heroes of Global Conservation (2010) by Hillary Clinton! Her efforts have almost singlehandedly changed the philosophy around elephants and ethical conservation in Thailand.
After spending the afternoon walking through the fields to meet all of the elephants, we had some down time in the early evening. Mom and I bought some beer at the on-site shop and had a happy hour at a pavilion on the river.
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| evening on the river |
Chang Beer is one of Thailand's "Big 3" breweries. It's one of the most popular beers in the country. "Chang" means "elephant" in Thai, and the label is decorated with a pair of elephants. It seemed appropriate!
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| happy hour |
As we were enjoying our happy hour, our guide came up to the pavilion and told us that we were about to see something really special. He invited us to follow him to a suspension bridge spanning the river to watch a group of the elephants return to the park HQ after an afternoon bathing in the river.
By this time, all of the tourists and day trippers had left, and only the overnight guests sat down together in the cool night air for another vegetarian buffet for dinner.
It wasn't late by the time we got back to our room, but after a hot shower, I realized how exhausted I was! It had been a fun and busy day, but our time with the elephants wasn't over yet.
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