We’re not in Indonesia anymore — hello from Thailand! But before we talk Thailand, one quick note: if you’re into under-the-sea things, Pulau Bunaken (off the northern tip of Sulawesi) is spectacular and I highly recommend going there for relaxing, snorkeling, and diving (we finally learned how to dive! and did not drown! and saw >30 giant sea turtles!).
Moving on to our next big animal adventure, Thailand is known for its elephants and Chiang Mai is the elephant capital of Thailand. After researching the ethical elephant options, we chose the Sunshine for Elephants day through the Elephant Nature Park, a rescue and rehabilitation center that cares for elephants coming from working in illegal logging and tourism. (Important note: do your research on elephant tourism, many places claim to be ethical but still allow inhumane things like riding.) You guys, this was THE BEST DAY.
Also, it just so happened that our friend Mike was in Chiang Mai for work at the same time as us! We haven’t seen a friend since May — everyone say hi Mike!
We arrived at the site about an hour north of the city, donned the requisite elephant outfits (I have no idea why this is a thing, but it is A Thing) and met Ta Mon and Sri Prai, our new elephant bffs!
This site just has two elephants (the third passed away a month ago). It’s a “saddle off” project, which is an Elephant Nature Park outreach initiative to improve the lives and conditions of elephants under the care of independent camps. Rescued elephants actually have to be purchased from their owners — in the case of these two, their owners could no longer afford to keep them, so they’re now retired at this camp.
We started with buying some goodwill with our new friends by feeding them banana after banana after banana — I had no idea elephants liked bananas so much! The guide explained that Ta Mon (age 30) is very friendly and you can always pet her if she comes near; Sri Prai (age 44) is a bit shy and cranky and blind in one eye, so you should only pet her while giving her treats. To be clear, throughout the day the elephants were never forced to interact with us, and I never had the sense they were doing anything they didn’t want to do.
After the first (of many) banana extravaganzas, our jungle trek started! Elephants in the wild spend most of their time foraging in the jungle in groups, so the park tries to simulate that. Along the hike we continued to pass them bananas when their insistent trunks nudged our hands and banana bags (interestingly, they could have just taken what they wanted — they’re elephants! — but they were so polite). When they wanted to stop to scratch against trees or roll in the mud or wander off-trail into the forest a guide followed and we waited for them to continue.
Eventually we arrived at a jungle camp where lunch was waiting for us (yummm Thai food), and special treats for the elephants. We mashed together bananas and rice and rice flour and pumpkin and other vitamins and nutrients, creating treat balls to feed to our friends. Post-treats we hiked again, ending the day at the river where we splish-splashed them in the bath before they headed back to their barn.
Initially I was a little bummed that there were only two elephants, but throughout the day I felt like we actually got to know them and create some sort of a bond. Elephants are incredible animals and I love them.
I perhaps overuse the term “magical,” but this was MAGICAL and one of my favorite days of the trip. Worth the effort to get to Chiang Mai just for this day imo (but don’t worry we did other things there!).
Keeping elephants is incredibly expensive and the lack of visitors (~$70 per person per day) due to Covid-19 has been devastating, so support their work if you can!
What am I reading?*
Just finished: Shit Cassandra Saw: Stories (Gwen E. Kirby)
Currently reading: Outlawed (Anna North)
Up next: The Queen’s Gambit (Walter Tevis)
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