Sasha:
For my birthday, Ra and I decided to splurge on a day at the Elephant Nature Park, outside of Chiang Mai. I had done some research- when I asked people what was worthwhile to do in Thailand, the Elephant Reserve came up several times. Online, there were several different elephant camp options. In one, you adopt a single elephant for the day, and spend it feeding, washing, and ultimately riding that particular animal. Everytime on this trip that we have made the choice to ride the horse or take the cart it has ended badly. Either it was clear that the animal was miserabe hauling our equally miserable bodies around as the handler whipped along its way, or we were shaken down for more money by the handler by the time it was done. Not our idea of fun. There was one review of this elephant camp that said the handlers were using hooks to make them trek, and one elephant had a gash by the end of the trip. Enough said.
I found listings on trip advisor for the Elephant Nature Park. http://www.elephantnaturepark.org/ There were no elephant rides, most of the animals were rescue elephants form other camps or from the logging industry in Cambodia or Burma, and the lunch was vegetarian. Sounded like our kind of place. After lodging, our daily budget has been around 100 Baht (or $33)/ day which would cover all food and transportation for both of us. Spending one day at the Elephant Nature Park is 2500 Baht/ person, so this was a serious splurge.
They picked us up at 8am, and drove for 90 minutes out of Chiang Mai to get to the river valley where they have the park. Along the way you see an elephant trekking camp- with westerners riding atop of elephants on 300lb chair rigs. We were feeling happy about our non-riding choice. We arrive and get a tour of the compound, see longer term eco tourist forming balls of banana, dates nuts, and who knows what else for the elephants to eat later, and see water buffalos and elephants all around us. The bulkings are beautiful- lots of natural wood, very open and designed for interacting with the animals from the safety of the porches.
At our first feeding session of the day (elephants eat 10% of their body weight every day, there would be more feeding to come) we watch a group feeding an elephant out of a basket of watermelon, pumpkin, and cucumbers. However, the animal knew what she wanted: sugar. Any attempts to give her pumpkin or cucumber were thwarted as she threw them to the ground, tossing the watermelon into her mouth. Even when they gave a piece of pumpkin and a piece of watermelon into her trunk at the same time, she could sniff out what she didn't want, and keep the part she did.
When it came turn for us to start feeding the elephants, I was surprised by how soft the skin of their trunks are- almost like iguana or snake skin, despite the fact that it is 1" thick! They have amazing mobility, strength, and agility in their trunks. The very end of it acts as both nose and hand. They can pick things up either by wrapping their trunk in a circle around what they were picking up, or by pinching it with the very tip. Most elephants like to pick up food from one side of their trunk or the other- some are left twisting, some right. And they will do whatever they can not to have to circle to their non-dominant side.
So we spend the morning feeding elephants: feeding them from the deck, feeding them in covered pens, feeding them outside by the river. Each one always has a mahout, or handler standing by, making sure we don't misbehave, and neither do they. There are two baby elephants on the property, which they show us in pens because their mamas and aunties get very protective of them. We learn about the two animals who each have a back foot that was blown off by a land mine. Ra relates to the elephant with the broken hip, who walks with a limp after years of hard work in the logging industry. We see the elephant who is blind, after being poked in the eye by handlers when she was refusing to haul logs in a former life. There was another elephant, Lily, who was hooked on amphetamines so she could work around the clock before she was purchased by the Elephant Nature Park. Most of the animals have these kind of stories: injuries, disabilities, reasons why their original owners were willing to part with them, and reasons why Lek wanted to save them.
Lek's passion for elephants is the reason this park exists. She has a passion for making elephants lives better in Thailand. She rescues them when she can afford it, she sends out veterinarians into other elephant camps to keep them in good health, and petitions the government to outlaw practices like elephant begging in cities. When we were there, she was consulting with some people in Cambodia who are interested in creating a park like this in that country. At the end of our day, we were encouraged to come back to Thailand, and that if there are other parks doing similar work to patronize them as well. We were so impressed by this woman's mission. It was obvious that the work was what was important, and that our money would go directly to that cause. So often when we do these kinds of things, we pay a lot of money and end up feeling cheated, but in this case, we were so happy to be able to support Lek, the park, and this project.
Let me talk about the lunch for a second: almost all vegetarian, and really really delicious. After I asked, one of the cooks walked me through all of the dishes in the buffet, pointing out the ones that had no soya sauce, and no wheat flour. On one hand, there were only 5 dishes that I could eat, on the other all of them were delicious! Lunch finished off with our guide, Bird, presenting me with a free tshirt as a birthday present!! (The gift shop let me exchange it for one in my size, and in a better color for me).
After lunch, it was river time with the Elephants. We were handed a bucket, rolled up our pants, and walked in for what I would describe as a giant water-fight, where all of the people throwing the buckets of water stayed dry, and the elephants receiving the shower enjoyed it. Just upstream of us, one of the elephants really preferred to give herself a bath. She was diving, rolling, splashing, and generally having a really good time with river fun.
The rest of our day was spent with more elephant feeding in the field and on the deck, and with watching a one hour documentary on Lek, her work, and the elephants on the reserve. The last part of the movie showed graphically how elephants are broken for logging and trekking in Thailand, and how Lek would like to change it. It was hard to watch, but made us feel very good about our choice to come here to interact with elephants, and not somewhere else.
I would highly recommend this place to other travelers. We liked the people working there, the cause, and the valley itself is a lovely place to spend some the day. For people who like more action, or more structure, perhaps paying to volunteer for a longer stay would give you more activities than what we had, or there might be more entertainment at another park, but this pace was very comfortable for us.
I found listings on trip advisor for the Elephant Nature Park. http://www.elephantnaturepark.org/ There were no elephant rides, most of the animals were rescue elephants form other camps or from the logging industry in Cambodia or Burma, and the lunch was vegetarian. Sounded like our kind of place. After lodging, our daily budget has been around 100 Baht (or $33)/ day which would cover all food and transportation for both of us. Spending one day at the Elephant Nature Park is 2500 Baht/ person, so this was a serious splurge.
They picked us up at 8am, and drove for 90 minutes out of Chiang Mai to get to the river valley where they have the park. Along the way you see an elephant trekking camp- with westerners riding atop of elephants on 300lb chair rigs. We were feeling happy about our non-riding choice. We arrive and get a tour of the compound, see longer term eco tourist forming balls of banana, dates nuts, and who knows what else for the elephants to eat later, and see water buffalos and elephants all around us. The bulkings are beautiful- lots of natural wood, very open and designed for interacting with the animals from the safety of the porches.
At our first feeding session of the day (elephants eat 10% of their body weight every day, there would be more feeding to come) we watch a group feeding an elephant out of a basket of watermelon, pumpkin, and cucumbers. However, the animal knew what she wanted: sugar. Any attempts to give her pumpkin or cucumber were thwarted as she threw them to the ground, tossing the watermelon into her mouth. Even when they gave a piece of pumpkin and a piece of watermelon into her trunk at the same time, she could sniff out what she didn't want, and keep the part she did. 
So we spend the morning feeding elephants: feeding them from the deck, feeding them in covered pens, feeding them outside by the river. Each one always has a mahout, or handler standing by, making sure we don't misbehave, and neither do they. There are two baby elephants on the property, which they show us in pens because their mamas and aunties get very protective of them. We learn about the two animals who each have a back foot that was blown off by a land mine. Ra relates to the elephant with the broken hip, who walks with a limp after years of hard work in the logging industry. We see the elephant who is blind, after being poked in the eye by handlers when she was refusing to haul logs in a former life. There was another elephant, Lily, who was hooked on amphetamines so she could work around the clock before she was purchased by the Elephant Nature Park. Most of the animals have these kind of stories: injuries, disabilities, reasons why their original owners were willing to part with them, and reasons why Lek wanted to save them.
Lek's passion for elephants is the reason this park exists. She has a passion for making elephants lives better in Thailand. She rescues them when she can afford it, she sends out veterinarians into other elephant camps to keep them in good health, and petitions the government to outlaw practices like elephant begging in cities. When we were there, she was consulting with some people in Cambodia who are interested in creating a park like this in that country. At the end of our day, we were encouraged to come back to Thailand, and that if there are other parks doing similar work to patronize them as well. We were so impressed by this woman's mission. It was obvious that the work was what was important, and that our money would go directly to that cause. So often when we do these kinds of things, we pay a lot of money and end up feeling cheated, but in this case, we were so happy to be able to support Lek, the park, and this project.
Let me talk about the lunch for a second: almost all vegetarian, and really really delicious. After I asked, one of the cooks walked me through all of the dishes in the buffet, pointing out the ones that had no soya sauce, and no wheat flour. On one hand, there were only 5 dishes that I could eat, on the other all of them were delicious! Lunch finished off with our guide, Bird, presenting me with a free tshirt as a birthday present!! (The gift shop let me exchange it for one in my size, and in a better color for me).
After lunch, it was river time with the Elephants. We were handed a bucket, rolled up our pants, and walked in for what I would describe as a giant water-fight, where all of the people throwing the buckets of water stayed dry, and the elephants receiving the shower enjoyed it. Just upstream of us, one of the elephants really preferred to give herself a bath. She was diving, rolling, splashing, and generally having a really good time with river fun.
The rest of our day was spent with more elephant feeding in the field and on the deck, and with watching a one hour documentary on Lek, her work, and the elephants on the reserve. The last part of the movie showed graphically how elephants are broken for logging and trekking in Thailand, and how Lek would like to change it. It was hard to watch, but made us feel very good about our choice to come here to interact with elephants, and not somewhere else. I would highly recommend this place to other travelers. We liked the people working there, the cause, and the valley itself is a lovely place to spend some the day. For people who like more action, or more structure, perhaps paying to volunteer for a longer stay would give you more activities than what we had, or there might be more entertainment at another park, but this pace was very comfortable for us.
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