Tong Jan playing with a tire

Elephants are the symbol of strength in Thailand but I have seen all sides of them at Elephant Nature Park. The rough and tumble fiestiness of teenage - Tom Suk (Jungle boy), the playful excitement of discovering new things with the babies; Aura, Tong Jan, and Pupia. The protectiveness of all the mothers and aunties, and the debonair manliness of Max the tallest asian elephant in Thailand.

The park allows the elephants to wander the 40 acres of land during the day and graze as they please, while also allotting time for feeding, bathing in the river, playing in the mud pit and positive reinforcement training (using food) with their mahouts (caretakers).

The day started out with the park aircon minivan picking me up at my guesthouse and transporting me to the main office near the nightmarket area of Chiang Mai. There I waited and hung out with the several rescued dogs,until everyone going to the park, had arrived.


From here we went to the local market to load up on bananas for the elephants. Next week drove the 45 minutes from the city to a ranch north of Chiang Mai, passing several elephant trekking camps along the way. I had no idea how much my view would be changed of these camps, after my week of work with the Elephant Nature Park was complete.

When we arrived, a volunteer presentor (Jodie), took us around explaining the do's and don'ts about interacting with elephants and some of the stories of how each had come to be a part of the family here at the park.

We watched a horrifying DVD called "Vanishing Giants" created by National Geographic in 2002. This was a documentary that illustrated the plight of domestic elephants in Thailand and for the first time, publicly released footage of the 'Pajaan' a brutal right of passage that young elephants only (4 & 5 years old) must endure to 'crush their spirit' and deem them domestic. The process includes forcing the young elephant into a bamboo cage that is the exact size of the elephant. The young elephant is then chained by all legs and neck to the structure. At this point the elephant is starved for 4-5 days, tortured by stabbing with sharpened bamboo sticks or sticks with nails on the end. After the elephant is weakened, commands are shouted and beatings follow until the animal obeys and is totally submissive. I cried through a good portion of the film. It also talks about Lek's work and her 'Elephant Nature Park' which trains young elephants using the same simple commands and positive reinforcement instead of beatings.

After the film we got the oppurtunity to feed the elephants as it was lunch time. Their food consisted of watermelon, bananas, cucumbers, squash, whole corn and some pineapple. Next it was our turn. We had our first delicious lunch of many different thai specialties and some western ones as well; a spread fit for the king.

After lunch we grabbed buckets and brushes and headed down to the riverside to wash the elephants. This was a neat chance to touch the rough, bristley skin of these amazing beings. Bathing is not to actually get the animals clean, but to remove any insects, dead skin and give them a massage/scratching at the same time. I didn't realize just how huge they were until you are scrubbing one of their backs. I couldn't even reach most of it, and they were laying down.

Once bathing was finished the younger elephants raced over to the 'mud pit' to slip and slide around while the older elephants sprayed dirt and dust all over their backs. Elephants do this to lock in the moisture and protect them from overheating in the hot sun - like a sunscreen.

The rest of the day was ours to observe the elephants, get settled into our bunglows and talk with other volunteers.