Elephant Haven

I knew that in Thailand I wanted to spend time with elephants, and I it was the one thing I actually put in some time to research and look into.  The treatment of elephants and methods put into training them can be quite cruel.  Something that we as tourists may be quite unaware of.  Enter elephant sanctuaries and rescue centres.  There are a few located around Chiang Mai, but I had heard about the Elephant Nature Park through looking into it more, as well as hearing about it from a friend who had visited this centre earlier in the year.  The founder, Sangdeaun Lek Chalet, is from the area and has made it her mission since she was a child to protect the animals.  As there was a big festival going on in Chiang Mai, visits to the centre were booked solid.  However, just over a year ago, an elephant camp outside of Kanchanaburi decided to convert to a sanctuary and partnered with Elephant Nature Park.  Elephant Haven was born and it was wide open to go for a visit.  So, that is where we ended up.  They have six elephants (all female) that we got to feed, walk through the forest with, watch play in the mud and swim with as we helped to clean them.

 

 

B-Rod chopping up a storm to get some food ready to feed the elephants

 

 

 

Walking through the forest and just observing the elephants in their environment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

All of the mahouts were awesome, and you could tell had a love for the elephant they worked with.  With this guy in particular it was obvious the relationship that he had with the animals and that they had with him. 

 

 

This is Mali (mah-lee) and she was my favourite for a few reasons.  All of the elephants have their own personalities, and Mali liked to go off on her own and just be by herself sometimes (just like me!)  She is 40 years old (similar age range!)  Her name is similar to my niece’s name and she was gentle and sweet just like my niece.   

It was fun to watch the elephants cool off in the water and then later play in the mud.

“Hey Chopper, what are you doing?”  
“Nothing . . . cooling off?  What about you Pim Jai?”  
“Just chilling.  Tong Koon, whatcha lookin’ at?”
“Wondering what those crazy people are gawking at!”  

These three were inseparable.

 Our final activity was to go into the river to help bathe and rinse off the elephants.  Most people just stayed closed to shore and used buckets to help them rinse off.  B-Rod and I being water people jumped right in, interacted with the elephants and just cooled off in the river.  It was only us and another Russian couple that actually dove right in, and we were the last to leave and get out.

Here we are once again with Mali. Prior to this, she just lay in the water, and enjoyed her head being scratched. They really do respond to touch.