Elephant World

A highlight of my trip to Thailand was a trip to Elephant World.  From the moment we arrived at Elephant World, we saw these amazing creatures in an up close and personal way that exceeded my expectations.  We began with a talk from one of the Mahouts or elephant trainers who explained why elephants were here in the first place.  Elephant world is a sanctuary for Elephants who are injured and retired from the logging and trekking industry.  It is also a safe place for former street elephants that cannot be released back into the wild.  Elephant Worldhttp://www.elephantsworld.org post signs that tells the story of each elephant telling about their past and how they came to live at the sanctuary.

Elephant World park entrance

the welcome committee!

During the course of the day, we visitors had ample opportunity to interact with the elephants.  Between 10am and 4pm we feed them, observed them have mudbaths, helped prepare their food, and washed them in the river. We began by feeding them.  Elephants need to feed up to 16 hours per day.  The park spends a majority of its budget on food for them.  We helped to feed them watermelon, radishes, cucumbers and bananas. 

baby elephants and their guardian Auntie are led to the river by their Mahouts.  Notice the mom and small child in this photo.  The elephants were quite gentle around guest of all ages

time for a mud bath- the mud acts like a sunscreen protecting the elephants from the intense sun 

the baby elephants are having a bath

Most of the elephants at Elephant World are seniors in their 50s and 60s with the oldest being a 79 year old female.  There are two baby elephants here.  There is a 4 year old boy and a 3 yr. old girl.  They are former street elephants.  The two came to the park together and are inseparable here.  One adult female adopted them and plays Auntie to them.  These babies are playful and naughty.  They have to be chained during feeding activities.  This is not a form of punishment.  This is because they are naughty and hyperactive little creatures that would end up in trouble if they didn’t have boundaries.

She is snacking after a bath in the river

I was surprised by a couple of things at Elephant World.  The first thing was the close level of interaction between guest and elephants.  We touched them and walked with them.  When you walk through the park to different areas, there is no fencing separating people from the animals. The second surprising thing is the fact an elephant can walk up next to you without being detected.  These animals weigh 4-6 tons. You don’t even hear them coming!

 

these elephants snuck in when they saw us preparing a lunch of sticky rice balls for them

I learned that elephants are very intelligent creatures.  They can remember childhood friends when they have been apart for over 20 years.  They have the largest brains of all land mammals.  They mourn and bury their dead and return to the burial place later.  They actually cry tears of sadness. They use tools such as sticks to scratch themselves. 

The park was very child friendly.  These children are painting a ceramic elephant to take home.

beautiful setting

even though the elephants were not a threat, I still would get nervous when they got very close to me.  These mahouts(trainers) who spend every day with the elephants are clearly relaxed around the massive animals.

Most park guest stayed until 4pm and departed for the evening.  I chose to spend the night at a park bungalow in their overnight program.  Personally, I feel that the $125 price for this package was a good value.  I was able to spend 2 days at the park.  I stayed in a comfortable bungalow.  I will admit that I found the adjoining bathroom creepy because I had to exit my room and walk outside at night time to use the restroom.   The park provided all of my meals from lunch on day 1 until lunch on day 2.  On the second day, I continued to interact with the elephants in a much smaller group of 3.  I also went floating on River Kwai.  This consisted of simply putting on a life vest and allowing the current to carry me down the river for about an hour.  I compare this to tubing, without the innertube. 

 

my bungalow

Why didn't you ride the elephants?

Riding elephants is called elephant trekking.  It is a huge industry in Thailand, but not really best for the elephants.  I found my experience interacting with and learning about the elephants to be more meaningful than riding on its back for 30 minutes.  Elephants are wild animals.  There is no such thing as a domestic elephant.  There are only wild elephants in captivity.  That means that at some point, extreme measures have to be taken in order to for them to allow people to ride them all day.  I didn't want to support those practices.  This is also the reason I didn't go pet tigers in a temple. but that is a separate soap box. Check out this website for more informationhttp://www.responsibletravel.com/holidays/elephant-conservation/travel-guide

Why are the elephants here?

In Thailand, elephants were a major part of the logging industry until this practice was outlawed in 1989. This means that when trees were cut down, elephants were used to pull them from one location to another through the jungles rather than vehicles. A majority of the elephants at this sanctuary are older than 50 years old.  That means that some of them were a part of this industry and endured stressful work conditions.  A couple of them are blind because they got branches caught in their eyes while working in the jungles for logging.  Some of the elephants used to work in the trekking industry.   Even though these creatures are massive, they are best able to carry heavy loads on their necks.  This is the reason that the mahouts ride the elephants on their necks if necessary. Many of the elephants in the trekking world work very long hours and have injuries related to the heavy saddles and people on their backs all day. Elephants who are giving rides at parks all day certainly don't have 16 hours to graze for food.  The 3^rd reason that elephants come to elephant world is because they were once street elephants.  This practice has now been outlawed as well. Elephant owners housed them in the city and allowed people to ride them, feed them, or pose for photos with them in exchange for money.  These elephant’s feet don’t develop properly because they have been living on hard concrete rather than in a natural habitat.  They also cannot be released into the wild because they were raised to depend on humans for survival.