Adventures of a Wandering Thirtysomething

Have you ever walked step for step beside an elephant? Had its trunk search you for food? Helped it bathe in a river? I have.

In arguably one of the most incredible travel experiences I’ve ever had in my life, Matt and I visited the Elephant Nature Park, a sanctuary for abused elephants outside of Chiang Mai, as part of its brand new Pamper a Pachyderm program that allows just six people per day to care for three elephants. 

Upon arrival, two of the park’s rescued dogs bounded up to our van knowing that it meant a new group of people to give them love and attention for the day. After a quick introduction with our guide “Sunshine,” we jumped right in with our first task of feeding the elephants. As we hefted large baskets filled with watermelons and pumpkins on top of stacks of sugar cane, the three elephants came charging over from across the field. They knew what the sight and sound of those baskets meant!

We watched as they used their trunks to pick up their favorite items first. The oldest one loved watermelon, so she slowly picked around her pile of squash and sugar cane to find every little bit of watermelon before she touched anything else. The two younger elephants made quick work of their watermelons and pumpkins, then chomped into their sugar cane, breaking the long stalks into two pieces with their teeth and discarding the fronds with their trunks. We captured the sound of them eating the sugar cane on video because it’s hilarious. The closest thing I can liken it to is the sound of a tree being felled in the forest. The sound of the tree hitting the forest floor is what it sounds like when an elephant bites into a big piece of sugar cane or a whole watermelon.

After their snack – healthy elephants eat about 300 – 600 pounds of food each day – we headed out on our hike to the river. One of the elephants, a former logging elephant, moved swiftly ahead of the others on the trail. Sunshine told us it was because her owner abused her for not working quickly enough, so she always moves faster than the others. As we led the elephants down the trail, they walked gently beside us, searching our heads and our arms with their trunks for more food. I was nervous they might step on my feet or knock me over, but because their sensitive feet are used to feel vibrations in the ground to warn them of approaching animals, they always sensed where I was at.

As we waded into the river with them, it was clear this was one of their favorite parts of the day. We watched as they got a drink by sucking up the water in their trunks, which hold up to two gallons, and then spraying it into their mouths. After they were thoroughly quenched, they headed over to the bank of the river where they mixed dirt and water with their trunks to make the mud they sprayed on themselves to keep cool.

Onward we headed up to a banana grove where the elephants got to pick bananas off the trees while we enjoyed lunch. Our delicious, homemade spread of Thai food was sadly interrupted when a truck rumbled by carrying the body of an elephant from a neighboring elephant camp/elephant riding company. Sunshine told us this is a sadly common occurrence these companies don’t want tourists to see. These beautiful creatures are abused, underfed and literally worked to death in the name of tourists who insist on riding elephants and seeing elephant shows, and companies who insist on treating elephants as a commodity to make money. There is no such thing as a humane and ethical elephant camp or riding/trekking company. It is abuse and it is impossible for the elephants not to be abused to provide these services. Even sadder, the trekking company would be taking that elephant body to be sold on the black market.

With hearts a bit heavy, we were reunited with our three happy and free elephants to head back down the trail. On the way, Sunshine pointed out another trekking company where we saw three elephants chained to trees, one in particular rocking and swaying in a common sign of stress.

Although we couldn’t do anything for those elephants, we could focus our energy on our rescued elephants. We took them to cross the river one last time, this time for their baths. Each one in subsequent fashion dipped down into the river where she laid down and rolled over in the river while we splashed her with buckets of water to wash away the mud, leaves and grass that gets easily caught in her hair and irritates her sensitive skin. In exchange for letting us bathe them, they got more snacks – this time bananas and sugar cane – which we kept in slings around our shoulders that the elephants tried to sneak their trunks into when we weren’t looking.

We made our final hike back to our starting point and said goodbye to our elephants as we headed off up the river for a rafting trip. I use the term rafting here loosely as it did, in fact, involve a raft. But because we’re here during the dry season, the river was so low that we spent more time trying to dislodge ourselves from rocks than we actually spent moving down the river. It was quite comical actually, but we did get to see more of the beautiful valley where so many elephants, both those in the sanctuary and those in tough conditions, live.

To end our day, we headed to the main sanctuary where all 36 of the rescued elephants spend their time in five herds, free to roam 250 acres and live good lives. We got to meet one of the sanctuary’s baby elephants as he curiously checked us out while his protective mama stood nearby. We also got to see Jokia, an elephant blinded by her previous owner after he shot out one of her eyes and later stabbed her other to force her to work. In a really sweet twist, another sanctuary elephant, Mae Perm, adopted Jokia shortly after she arrived and serves as her seeing eyes as she moves about the sanctuary.

Leaving the sanctuary that day, our hearts were full. Our experience with these beautiful creatures was so deeply personal, and we were completely inspired by the work being done at the sanctuary to bring healing and freedom to just a tiny fraction of the thousands of elephants that are abused daily in Thailand.

If you are planning to travel to this part of the world, I must implore you and even beg of you to please resist the urge to take an elephant ride, go to an elephant show, give money to a begging elephant on the street or attend a circus. As innocent as they may appear on the surface, these practices are utterly cruel and only lead to even more abuse, exploitation and death of these incredible animals. If I may be so bold, I would implore you also to resist these same events in the U.S. or anywhere else in the world, where practices are truly no better.

For more information about visiting the Elephant Nature Park and the work being done to rescue and rehabilitate these animals, visit www.elephantnaturepark.org.