Today was probably our best day yet. We spent an incredible day at Patara Elephant Farm in Chiang Mai. For one full day, we were each assigned our own elephant. There were about eleven of us in this program designed to promote elephant conservation. We had to do the elephant's morning medical inspection, clean off the loose dirt, bathe it, feed it, exercise it and most importantly play with it. The elephant population in Thailand has rapidly declined over the past four years from 6,000 to 3,500. The farm is helping to increase the population and has released six back into the wild. All the elephants born there have thrived. They currently have three baby elephants on the farm.
We were first educated about the proper way to approach an elephant and were told that if our elephant doesn't like us, we would be reassigned. They match based on personality. He said I seemed a little crazy, so he gave me a slightly crazy elephant, Boonyuc (which means long life in Thai).
Hello, Ms. Boonyuc (pronounced like boon-jun). My elephant was always hungry and looking for more bananas, as you can see. She has a similar appetite as me, so I knew we would be a good match. She is a ten-year-old female who previously worked in a dancing elephant show. Her previous owner sold her to buy a new truck. She was very lucky Patara Elephant Farm bought her. Many other elephants are mistreated and exploited as a means of begging for money.
What a sexy beast....
Boonyuc gave me the ear flap and tail swing, which meant she liked me. Phew.... Feeding her a basket of bananas and sugar cane helped win her over.
She liked to eat the whole row of bananas all at once and often got my whole hand in her mouth. Thank goodness she doesn't have teeth, but she does have a hairy and slimy mouth.
They gave us special shirts to wear so the elephants would recognize us as one of the members of the farm.
Ben, one of the owners of the family-run farm, taught us how to do the health check. Inspecting the dug is one of the most important steps. Anna demonstrated for us...
Ben instructing Anna on the fundamentals of dung inspection. You should be able to squeeze water out of the dung. He can tell the age of the elephant by inspecting the dung.
Anna had some healthy dung in her hand--what a relief.
Anna cleaning the mud off her elephant with a bush brush.
It was an arm workout getting the mud off.
We also had to inspect the elephants for dirt on their sides. A healthy elephant sleeps laying down, rotating sides about every 35-45 minutes throughout the night. Sick elephants sleep standing up. "A dirty elephant is a healthy elephant."
Boonpac, meaning handsome man, was Anna's elephant. He got a good scrubbing.
All the elephants seemed to love a good scrubbing and loved lounging in the cool water.
They had a photographer from the farm on hand to take pictures of us so we could focus on caring for our elephant. They got a great shot of my elephant shooting water on us from her trunk. I will upload these pictures from the DVD after we get access to a computer.
We also learned some Thai elephant commands. "How," meaning stop, always came in handy. My elephant was very impatient and always liked to get to the front of the line. "Pai" means go and "long" means up. "Ma" means come.
"Ma," Boonyuc. Let's go, you gentle giant. Note the leaves in her trunk. She was always grabbing a quick snack whenever she could. They eat 10 percent of their body weight everyday.
Saddle up.... They are very thoughtful animals and offered their leg as a step.
Off we went to the waterfall for lunch and a swim. Walking keeps the elephant's nails short and prevents them from becoming infected (one of the main causes of elephant deaths in Thailand). The other main causes are loneliness (how sad is that) and a poor habitat (same limited environment with no food variety).
I stole a hug from Boonpac. I think I made Anna jealous, especially since he flapped his ears when I hugged him (a sign he was content). Not to toot our own horns, but i think we did a great job shining his tusks.
A tasty lunch made by the local villagers. Almost every dish included sticky rice--my favorite.
It was tasty for us and the elephants--they got the leftovers and devoured them as fast as we could put the food in front of them. They ate every last bite, including the banana leaves we used as plates. Ben kept telling us "healthy elephants eat all the time, always eating, always hungry." We had a herd of healthy elephants.
It was a refreshing swim in the waterfall for both of us.
She liked to swim underwater, which made it difficult to hold on. My mahout, Pong, said to stay on her back so she didn't accidentally step on me. I'm sure my foot wouldn't fare so well if it was stepped on by a 5 ton elephant.
Off we went, through the jungle and back to the farm. Bare feet tucked behind the ears works best. You push on her right ear to go left, and her left ear to go right.
It started pouring rain on the steep walk back down the hill. The elephants were walking through mud a foot deep and on very slippery terrain. It was a little nerve racking, but the mahout said they are very sure-footed animals. Each step they take they think about and plan. Similar to horses, if they break a leg, they will die. We had to lean forward going uphill and lean back going downhill to help the elephant. It was pretty surreal navigating through the jungle while riding on an elephant's neck during a strong rainstorm. It briefly turned into a thunder and lightening storm, but the lightening quickly passed. My mom never mentioned anything about not riding on an elephant during a lightening storm, so I figured I was probably okay ;)
Safe, sound and soaking wet back at the farm.
One last feeding frenzy before we said goodbye. She liked the bananas (plural) placed at the end of her trunk. She always searched around the empty basket with her trunk to make sure I didn't miss any.
So long, Boonyuc and Pong. You will be missed.
I even love the view from the rear.
Rice fields on the elephant farm. In the distance is the hill we rode through on the way back from the waterfall.
A nice dinner at the Gallery restaurant, along the Ping River in Chiang Mai.
Khao soy, a favorite dish in Northern Thailand. It consists of a bowl of meat soup and egg noodles in a coconut broth, topped with crispy noodles. I'll be eating more of this for sure.
A stroll through the Saturday Night Market.
Dessert from a stand in the market. The best use of fluffernutter I have ever seen--they spread it on a crispy crepe and add shredded coconut and orange rind.
Thai desserts made from soybeans. I have a feeling they look better than they taste.
We hopped on a tuk tuk for a ride back to the hotel.
We stayed at the Thapae Boutique House--not bad for $30 a night for two people and a free breakfast. After a long day, we didn't mind the hard bed.
Tomorrow we are sightseeing around Chiang Mai and then heading to Chiang Rai, near the Burma border up north, with a few stops along the way to see the tribal people.
Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
No comments:
Post a Comment