Elephant loving... the ethical kind!

So after finally getting our stomachs in gear we headed off for this elephant sanctuary about an hour and half to the north of Chiang Mai. it is run by this woman nicknamed Lek- which means small in Thai. And she is incredibly tiny. We were very lucky to meet her briefly as she is an incredible woman. She grew up in a hill tribe where her father was a shaman and spent a lot of her time with elephants. She created the park as a safe haven for retired working elephants. We learnt a lot about how elephants in Thailand have been mistreated. Its so bizairre considering that elephants are such a strong symbol of Thai culture. They are very revered creatures that helped to build the nation and yet are abused in appauling ways. I feel so ashamed that I wasn't aware of the torture that all working elephants go through. When they are babies they are placed inside a tiny wooden box where they are beaten and jabbed into submission for days on end. Sometimes weeks. The mahouts use little picks to keep them in line. Many of the elephants in the camp were personally rescued by Lek who found them in terrible conditions. There was an elephant that had its pelvis broken in a logging accident, then was kept to have babies. They tied her up while a male elephant was on heat (during this time the male elephant's testosterone rises to high levels and they are quite crazy). But elephants are very picky when it comes to choosing a lover and in the wild won't just let any big elephant shlong near their pink bits. So this elephant continually refused the male elephant until he got so frustrated that he attacked her and broke her back legs. Lek rescued this elephant and brought her to the park where she now lives. It was beautiful to see that this elephant was eventually befriended by another elephant who is mostly blind and they protext each other from the more rambuctious elephants in the park. The elephants are based in family and friendship groups and breaking these up so that elephants can become workers, all alone and moving wherever their owners decree is another sad part of a working elephants life. In the wild the male elephants are usually kicked out of the family group when they are old enough to mate and they live solitary lives or move around with other males. But the females all stick together and look after the babies. Elephant babies are fussed over not only by their mother but a group of aunties as well. In the park we were so fortunate to observe a 5 month old and a 1 year old with their mothers and aunties. I can't really explain what it was like but we have some good videos.

Lek is hoping that through her park she can transform the life of elephants throughout Thailand.
Because logging was banned in 1989 many elephants lsot their jobs- which meant they were too expensive for their owners to feed. So many elephants walk the streets of big cities with a mahout begging. There mahouts make a lot of money out of getting tourists to pay to feed the elephant. But it is a horrible life for an elephant and many are involved in car accidents etc. Other elephtants have been forced into the tourist trade where they have to perform and take tourists for rides. (We ensured that we rode an elephant bareback which is much more comfortable and chose an elephant camp where the elephants were loved- as far as we could tell). Elephant tourism is not a bad thing in Lek's opinion- but she wants to change it. She wants elephants to live as they would in the wild, without being tamed through torture, but only through words and love. She has two elephants at the camp that were orphaned and came straight to the camp, so they have never been tortured or "tamed"- but they are beautiful and happy creatures- much more fun to watch playing as elephants would. Lek is not interested in making a profit- however ensures that the park does (with all profit going straight into further elephant care and a program called Jumbo express where she provides free medical treatment for elephants, people and other creatures in remote areas). She needs to prove that this kind of elephant tourism (where elephants live natural lives)_ will make money so that other elephant camps will follow suit.

At the park we were able to feed the elephants, watch them move freely throughout the 130 acres of the park (they have more space in a place called elephant heaven in the mountains as well). We were able to bath the elephants and walk amongst them. It was much more exhilirating to be with elephants who were free (and slightly dangerous: if we ever heard the word"run"we had to jsut run-a s these elephants are allowed to do as they please and can runa t 25 km per hour and can be very playful with each other and with humans) than to watch elephants forced to pain pictures and stand on their heads. Even though i do admit I enjoyued the elephant show I saw in Ayatthyua- I now know its nothing compared to what we have just experienced.

We stayed the night at the park and were treated to a fabulous dinner where we sat on the floor and ate with our hands, balling up sticky rice and dipping it in the various different dishes. Tim enjoyed it the most (I was still a tad queasy). We sat with a couple of uni students from America. I wasn't sure what to make of them- they were studying comparitive religion and travelling around as part of their course. We discussed politics in America and Australia and various other things but generally I think the Americans weren't that interested in interacting with us. So we got chatting with one of the guys who works at the camp. He was born in a hill tribe and explained to su what that was all about. His parents still live in the hill tribe and he was sent to be a monk at age 7- so he could learn Thai and go to school. He was a monk until he was about 15 and eventually he got a loan and went to uni to study tourism and now works in the camp. He was pretty drunk and friendly and it was nice to get to talk to someone with such different life experiences to us.

The little bamboo hut we stayed in was right in amongst all the elephants which were freely wandering about- and we were able to sit on our verandah and watch them. the park is also home to a bunch of cows, water buffalo, cats and dogs. We woke to the sounds of elephants trumpeting- pretty crazy. On the second day we again were able to participate in feeding the elephants, bathing them, went on a walk around the park with a guide who told us stories about all the elephants. They are such complicated creatures, who form intricate relationships with each other and the people who work in the park know every elephant by site, know everything about their history and the current family and friendship groups they move in. It was a very amazing and enlightening experience. Tim wants to come back in the future and spend some time at the camp as a volunteer. I think it would be great if we could get a group of us together and all go- any takers?