Elephant Nature Park, Thailand
One of the highlights of my time in Thailand was visiting Elephant Nature Park. I wanted to volunteer for a week, but they were already booked up when I checked in January. Instead, I decided to stay for 2 days and 1 night.
I was picked up at my hostel, shown a video on safety rules while around the elephants (no standing and touching behind or on the side of the elephants) and the horrible ways people treat elephants to be used in shows and for riding.
Elephant Nature Park is a rescue center. They currently have 69 elephants rescued from life in the logging industry, street begging, shows, riding, and injured from land mines. Lots of the elephants are much older, in their 70s, and are blind. They also rescue other animals such as water buffalo, dogs (from flood in Bangkok a few years ago), cats, monkeys, pigs, goats, and horses. The whole compound and operation is much bigger than I expected and runs very smoothly.
I was in a group with 6 other overnighters (from UK and US). Our guide Andy took us around the property meeting and feeding different elephants. Andy would tell us their story of how they were rescued, how old they were, and how long they have been there. It was nice getting to know their stories. Each elephant or herd has their own mahout, which essentially is their caretaker. They walk around the property with the elephants, gather food for them, put them in their shelter at night, and generally watch out for them.
Our guide Andy and elephant
can you see the watermelon?
Me & elephant!
Difference between African and Asian elephants. African elephants are bigger and have 2 fingers at the end of the trunk whereas the Asian elephant only has one.
Throughout the day we fed the elephants, watched them bathe in the river, watched them spray themselves with mud (acts like sunblock for their sensitive skin), and we even splashed an elephant with water while she ate. Later we were taken to our rooms, which I didn't expect much, but was pleasantly surprised with a huge room and a king size bed with a balcony overlooking the elephant shelter where the elephants sleep. The first night we participated in a welcome ceremony (probably more so for the volunteers starting that day) but we were given good luck bracelets and blessed by a shaman. Plus, all the meals were vegetarian buffets full of great food. I was impressed.
Me with a herd of elephants!
Baby boy wanted to nurse
Feeding the elephant watermelon. I was always surprised at how they could pick things up with their trunk
Elephant Butt
Lots of elephant food
Happy Elephant
Bath Time
Look at that little trunk!
Playtime-all muddy again
Elephant Scratching
Mahout and his elephant
Splashing elephant day 1
View of elephant shelter from my room's balcony
The next day we went out with our guide Apple and Joe touring the property and meeting and observing more elephants. At one point one of the baby boy elephants enjoyed chasing a dog and then us so we had to run for a little to get out of his way. Then we went to the males' enclosure. The males have to be separated due to them being more aggressive and having tusks that can hurt others. We fed and bathed another elephant and then made some soft food for one of the older ladies. We combined rice, banana, and pumpkin into balls and then fed her (she is 100 years old!).
Me & Jokia (she's blind)
Maeperm & Jokia, best friends
Jungle Boy in his enclosure
Guests feeding the elephants at the main building
Our group and happy eating elephant
1,2,3, splash!
Making the rice balls
Looking good for 100!
Elephants in the mud
Sadly, we left the park to go back to the city. It was nice to be out of the city and surrounded by animals. Our group also got along really well and even met up for dinner, drinks, and dancing once we got back to the city.
I showed them around town and we had dinner at the international food truck park
If you come to Thailand I absolutely recommend visiting Elephant Nature Park. If I come back again I will stay for a week.
Check out this
compilation from my visit!
Next: last post on Thailand
