I had taken a couple of months to research the location of where I wanted to have an elephant experience and finally settled on the Elephant Nature Park. Several thousand great reviews on TripAdvisor had convinced me this was the place I had been looking for, even the bad reviews had nothing to say about the mistreatment of the animals. I booked the trip and anxiously awaited for the day I would get with these beautiful gentle giants. The day had finally come when I was going to get to walk and play with an elephant, a day I had waited for for well over a year. And it was everything I imagined and more.
I was picked up first thing in the morning and taken to the park about an hour outside of Chiang Mai. The best thing was that we were in a small group of about 10 people and we would be split into two smaller groups. Once we pulled in, I was already hopping out of the minivan and rushing over to the edge of the cover we had pulled up to. Right in front of me were three elephants, unchained and eating everything they could get their trunks on. Pretty soon, two different elephants were walking up to our group and it was time to start feeding them! It was two females who were best friends and in the same herd. We fed them watermelon. At first, I was a little nervous, but being so excited, I stepped up first, grabbed half a watermelon piece and 'slunk,' the elephant grabbed it right out of my hand with her massive trunk and into her mouth. Our group fed each of the elephants a massive basket of watermelon before they were led away to another area while two more elephants came up for us to feed. The other two ladies were part of a different herd and not supposed to mix. We were being introduced to our ladies for the day by feeding them baskets of fruit. After about 30 minutes, we were separated into our smaller groups and began our walk with the elephants.
The guides had given us a bag of bananas with a warning not to put the bags across our bodies in case any wondering elephant trunks found their way into our bags. The elephants we had that day came from the tourist industry throughout Thailand, mostly from the southern region near the beaches. Younger elephants are used on the streets to get money for the owner. The owner will chain the elephant to him and walk around the streets and charge for people to take pictures with and/or feed the elephants. Older ones are used for trekking in the mountains or on the beaches. Logging with the use of an elephant is now illegal in Thailand but is still done discretely occasionally. However, logging with elephants is still legal in Myanmar (Burma), right across the border. The camp has several elephants that have been rescued from the Myanmar logging industry.
Our walk was slow and peaceful. We had three guys from the camp with us. One, was our guide and the other two guides were the elephants mahouts or their 'trainer.' The mahouts are assigned an elephant for life pretty much. From the time of the elephant's arrival at the camp, they have their 'person'. The mahout ensures the proper love and care of their elephant. As we walked along, the mahouts and guide told us a bit about the camp and elephants but mostly let us bask in the awe of walking and feeding the elephants. I was sad when our walk came to an end but then we got to bathe them! Splashing around in the water with them and handing over food when they stuck out their trunks was truly a sight to see. They just seemed happy and playful.
Once we finished up with the bathing, we were able to take some pictures and say our final goodbyes to the beautiful ladies. It was time for us to go into the actual camp where all the other elephants were. As we passed each elephant, our guide would tell us the story of how he/she came to be at the nature park. Most of the injuries the elephants received were from logging or land mines in Burma. Others, like the ones from our group, were from the tourist industry and had been severely mistreated. No matter what industry the elephants are in, they need to be trained to do what the owner wants them to do. In order to do that, the elephants are almost always highly abused through starvation, beatings and isolation until they are broken. They know nothing of kindness or gentleness from humans when raised in these conditions. It blows my mind to see how, after all the treatment they were dealt at the hands of humans, they calmly and lovingly interacted with us and their trainers. Some elephants had lasting effects of their captivity and would have PTSD attacks. The best part about this camp is the use of positive reinforcement to get the elephants do what they want them to do. Not once did the mahouts yell or hit or beat the elephants to get them to comply. If the mahout wanted the elephant to stop, they would use a command and hand over some food.
My day ended happily. The elephants had been abused but had been able to come to this wonderful nature park for healing and love from a new herd and their mahout. People wanting to visit the Elephant Nature Park can do so through a variety of ways. There are several different one day trips or you can volunteer at the park and help with the elephants and educate the nearby villages. It's an incredible organization and going to the park helps in the care of these wonderful animals and allows the camp to expand their elephant families.
Today, I saw none of the kindness and care given to elephants at a waterfall I went to. I ended my day sad and disgusted. Seeing the positive aftermath of something horrible can sometimes make the horror seem not as bad. I know what I saw today wasn't the worst I could have seen, but it was enough to leave an impact on me. I decided to take a tour around Koh Samui and one of the stops was at Namuang Waterfall. Elephant trekking and feeding is offered here and it's the first thing thrust in your face when you arrive. There were five elephants in a very tiny enclosure off to the side of the parking lot and was impossible to miss or ignore. Immediately saddened by seeing them, I walked on up to the path to the waterfall, ignoring signs to ride elephants. I took the pictures of the waterfall like a good tourist and ate some food at the restaurant but had nothing to do for the last 30 minutes.
I went and sat by the bus and just observed the elephants. The first thing I noticed was a male elephant off the side. I noticed him first because he was circling and waving his head and trunk around back and forth and shuffling his feet. I looked down at his feet and noticed one had a broken chain on it and the other had a chain and rope on it, tied so taunt and tight, he was unable to do anything but his distressed shuffle. I walked up to him and just watched. I didn't know what to do, I knew this was a sign of major stress in an elephant. He was terribly malnourished and with every swing of his body to the left, I could see the protruding of bones on his side. His circling, swaying and shuffling didn't stop the whole time I was standing there, waiting for the bus to load. Right outside his reach, was a teenager elephant. From what I learned at the camp, he looked to be about two or three. He was tied up just as bad as the other elephant and had the same rocking, shuffle motion. The elephant in the back, had a riding harness on and was standing so still, I didn't realize she was a real elephant at first. I made my way to the elephant closest to the buses. She had visible open wounds around the side of her body that I could see, as she was chained so tightly, she could only stand in one direction. I was so shaken and upset by the wounds I didn't notice at first why she appeared to be bigger than the other elephants. Then, I heard a little trumpet and looked to the side to see a baby elephant. It was much skinnier than the other babies I had seen at the Elephant Nature Park. It looked to be trying to get milk from it's mom but didn't seem to be having any luck as she was rocking too hard for the baby to catch on.
I was heartbroken to see the way these elephants were being chained and barely fed enough to stay alive. I didn't even want to take pictures but knew I wanted to pass along this information so people knew how these animals were being mistreated just so we, humans, can ride them for enjoyment. The only one I took was of the baby and mom.
How can I say I was lucky to walk with elephants at the nature park, when the only reason it exists is to give shelter to them after they've been beaten and broken? I am happy there is a sanctuary for these animals after the injustices they have been dealt but heartbroken that it has to exist. I know things like this happen back in the US, but not so prominently and in your face kind of way. I'm not saying that keeping it hidden is good at all. But that's why I wanted to write this post. It's a start to a change. To noticing. That's what travel does. It opens your eyes to new things, not always good, as you can see, but it can change the way we live and the choices people make. If I can influence just one or two people to avoid riding elephants and visit an elephant care center instead to help them, then I feel like I've been successful in at least helping with this cause. I want people to know and care what happens. I want to make an impact in some way and just maybe writing about it will do something.
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