Elephant Training Camp

Today I went with two friends from school to a nearby elephant training camp, about an hour outside of Chiang Mai city. I've been looking forward to doing this for a long time and was excited to spend a day with the elephants. We tried our best to find a place that did not mistreat their elephants - after hearing stories of other establishments that simply use them to make money and beat them constantly while you ride them through the jungle after breaking their will. It's terrible what these majestic creatures have to go through.  I was hoping to go to the famous Elephant Nature Park but the friend I wanted to go with had already bought a day at another place which she was unable to do because she had gotten sick the day before. The girls that did end up going raved about it and said that as far as they could tell the elephants were treated well, there was nobody beating them and they all had a great time. I decided I would rather go with friends on a recommendation then alone to a place I'd read about. And I'm happy I did, we had a fabulous time together!

We were picked up at our hotels early in the morning and then taken to a market to buy bananas for the elephants. The roof of the truck was filled with them! Elephants, being the largest animal on the planet, eat 200-300 lbs or more of food a day. Before I even had a chance to put my bag of bananas down one of the elephants had stolen my entire bag, ripped it apart and started gorging on the whole stack of bananas! We had to be careful to keep the food out of trunks reach until it was time to feed them. 

It was an hour drive to the camp, I enjoyed getting out of the city and seeing the countryside. The only part I didn't enjoy was the last ten minutes which were a harrowing drive up a steep dirt hill, which felt very bumpy and treacherous, although I was the only one that was afraid! We had to carry everything in because we were basically in the middle of the jungle - so all our bags, water, lunch and all the bananas. It was a 10-15 minute hike to get to the camp, past a beautiful river stream, tall trees and plants everywhere. Once there, we changed into our mahout clothing and learned how to steer an elephant. A mahout is basically someone who drives an elephant, usually starting as a boy and paired with a young elephant early in life. Training begins when the elephant is quite young and our guide informed us that all of the mahouts at this camp were I believe, from Burma. They are provided with food, lodging and money to send home to their families. They are otherwise uneducated and unable to work in Thailand from what I understand, but I can't remember all of the specific details. They have an obvious bond with the elephants. We learned all the basic commands for "left", "right", "back", "forward", "stop" and "bend down". We practiced shortly on a younger elephant before hopping on to the larger elephants and heading into the jungle. There are a couple of ways to get on to an elephant, either they bend down for you or lift their right leg for you to use as a step which I think is really cool! They are huge! So strong, with skin 3 inches thick in most places. We paired up, with one person in front doing the steering, the other in back. Then we got to switch places later on.

I felt surprisingly comfortable riding the elephants, more so then a horse I think. There is no saddle, just a simple rope to grab on to, or you can hold on to the elephant or the person in front of you. They are wider and more sturdy then a horse and walk very slowly and firmly. After a few minutes I felt comfortable enough to take my hands off the ropes and take photographs except when we were going up or down a very steep hill.

We walked for maybe a half hour, or 45 minutes and then returned for lunch and a break. Lunch was pad thai wrapped in a banana leaf, roll your own cold rolls and fresh fruit. It was very, very tasty!

Then, once our bellies were full, it was time to feed the elephants! They are mighty dexterous with their trunks its pretty amazing! And boy do they ever like bananas... And most anything actually they stopped every few meters for a snack along the way both times. Ripping leaves methodically off vines and trees.

Then we got the joy of elephant kisses!!! They actually give you a little "suck" on your cheek that is absolutely hilarious and adorable even if their breath does stink a little...

After lunch we rode the elephants to a nearby waterfall to bathe them. I was given my own elephant, a younger and smaller one and off I went! As soon as we got to the waterfall a giant water fight broke out between us and the mahouts as we bathed our elephants, who seemed to get a kick out of all the fun too!