Sat February 10th - Chang Mai-Elephant Nature Park
Trip Start
Feb 07, 2007
1
4
38
Trip End
Mar 20, 2007
Chang Mai, Thailand
Saturday, February 10, 2007
The Elephant Nature Park is unlike many of the other elephant parks in the area which cater for tourist rides and entertainment. It was set up by a Thai lady specifically to help rescued working elephants. A visit here is all about seeing elephants in as natural an environment as possible, watching the interaction between the various family groups. The elephants are not wild, as all the adults have, at some time in their past, been through the terrible "pajaan" training and used as working elephants, some have injuries, some are classed as rogues because they have turned on a human and killed or injured them and some were abandoned by their owners because they could not afford to keep them when logging became illegal and the elephants could not provide them with an income
01 Derek at Feeding Time
. The elephants depend on the volunteers for most of their food but mainly have free rein to wander the park at will. There are two bathing sessions each day and the elephants seem to revel in being scrubbed and splashed by their human companions! Whilst on the visit you get the chance to help feed them the enormous quantities of fruit they consume each day in addition to the grass feed they are given each evening. It is difficult to spend time in the company of these enormous, seemingly gentle creatures and not be captivated, but many have tragic histories and they have to be treated with caution and respect. There are three babies who are being trained using positive reinforcement techniques rather than the cruelty of the pajaan. These three are such fun to watch, they are your typical naughty kids, always looking for mischief and absolutely hilarious in the mud pool. Hero, who was rescued at 3 days old after his mother died, was lucky to survive, but is now a strong, healthy and boisterous 10 year old who was behaving like a rebellious teenager on the day we were there - he got "over excited" at bath time and charged off, scattering the visitors, before his mahout managed to get him back under control!
A superb day, we have got the tee shirts, bought the DVD and will no doubt be trying to support the cause when we get home!
