November 27th
From Lampung we travelled to Chiang Mai on 26th November – mostly for the annual Loy Krathong and Ye Ping festivals which were happening on 28th and 29th November this year, plus this is THE route for travel in these parts. However, as well as the festival of lights, northern Thailand hits the headlines for elephant conservation and this was a big draw for me.
Choosing an elephant park to visit, as with many choices we have made while travelling, is fraught with nuances and responsibility. We cannot kid ourselves that we are doing anything highly individual or groundbreaking here – 18 year old’s do this after all, but I feel proud of small victories, when I do something that is new to me or outside my comfort zone. Then I look around at all of the other people who manage the same without any obvious anxiety and remember this is normal. The trouble is normal means common which means many options. And everyone visits an elephant park or books an elephant related excursion therefore the choice is endless. Many are less than ethical or as kind to the elephants as their advertising suggests and I really wanted to do this well.
Elephants have traditionally been working animals in Thailand, used in the logging industries to haul felled trees through terrain unsuitable for lorry or man. They have also long been abused, for riding, performing tricks in circuses and begging (while small and cute). Such is the need and appetite for owning elephants that a bull elephant was and is able to provide a healthy income as a stud – approximately 200,000 Baht (£4,500) for the initial activity and then a further 100,000 Baht if the pregnancy was successful some 20-22 months later- not small money in these parts where the average annual salary is £2,200. These bred elephants have never been wild and are not in a matriarchal group and their lives are destined to be painful, boring and sad – but still long. An elephant lives for 55-80 years, if well cared for or healthy. They are known to recognise other elephants based on faces or through touch and they can recognise a mirror image of themselves. In the wild they are known to recall feeding grounds and watering holes from decades previous which means they must also have capacity to in some way remember and relive harsh conditions.
Since 1993 Saengduean Chailert – or Lek as she is more easily known – has campaigned and raised funds to rescue elephants from logging companies and private owners where they are being abused. Hers is not the first or the only Thai originated effort and the plight of the Thai elephant is backed by government. Elephant Nature Park ( www.elephantnaturepark.org ) is Lek’s project and is at the forefront of ethical elephant experiences and rescue. The elephants she retires to her park are not suitable for re-homing or re-wilding – they do not know how to live alone or in the wild – but they are overdue kindness and time to just be elephants. There is no direct tourist contact with her elephants, which now number over 120.
She has recently discouraged the opportunity to help with bathing. The elephants here have a mahout each who they get to trust and they themselves then decide the agenda. It may be that they show an interest in your group as you wander around their enclosures – closely watched by your guide. Or it may be that they completely ignore you. While researching which tour to go for we discovered that many ventures, although they claim to be elephant friendly, still offer feeding opportunities, bathing and even riding. The ethos at Elephant Park is that the elephants do what the elephants do and they do not perform for humans.
We are greeted at the first enclosure by 2 old ladies, Kanjanah and FahMui who are between 70 and 80 years old. They are chipped but, as Jok our guide explains, owners will reuse chips between elephants they have owned so some elephants can appear on the chip to be over 160 years. Instead the age here is estimated by looking at the amount that the temporal area has sunk in and the state of the wrinkles (cue quick check in mirror). Despite all the warnings about the elephants not being there to perform for us these are elephants who have always been around humans. As we gingerly approach (they are very big close up!) they come toward us with ears flapping gently and tails happily waving side to side (signs of contentment). We are allowed to photograph and get close and I swear FahMai (the younger of the two) was posing Instagram style. Also the showing off with the tyre was not at all coerced. It really was a look at me moment – and of course we all did.
Most of the rescued elephants here are female. Bull elephants are notoriously unreliable and aggressive especially when their hormones are ranging during musth. They are usually not kept for any economic purposes apart from stud so there are less to rescue. We are not allowed in or even very close to their enclosure as they have become adept at throwing rocks when feeling irritable and have good aim. The bull elephants who do live here nearly all arrived with their mothers as young calves or they were born at the park following ‘accidents’.
I have to praise our guide Jok’s English here as the child that was in our group asked about how the ‘accident’ happened. After checking with her mum he gave a very clear explanation of elephant procreation – factually correct but he also managed to explain that for elephants the female is in charge and if there are no feelings involved the female does not turn around or make herself available and therefor the male is aware it is absolutely a no go!
The park guards against further pregnancies with the separate enclosures, but he admitted that it is sometimes difficult to stop nature taking it’s course! Thong Suk is a bull elephant here who is sweet on one of the females. They do not mix but they get to meet at the river. The female, who’s name I annoyingly cannot remember teases Thong Suk blatantly, encouraging an erection the size of, well an elephant. However she does not turn around and present herself as available and so the fence separating them remains intact!
Many of the elephants that are in the park bear scars and injuries related to their previous lives. Medo is a middle aged female who broke her hip while logging. Despite this in order to keep her economical her owner bred from her. Imagine carrying a pregnancy for 22 months with a broken hip and then giving birth. She now resides at the park, her hip still askew and teeth a little iffy but otherwise enjoying life. Her best friend has no teeth but is fed softer food by her mahout.
There are some infants at the park and baby PyiMai steals the show at bath time. PyiMai is carefully watched by his mother KhamMoon as well as his surrogate Dmax. Such arrangements are normal in a matriarchal group so that child rearing and babysitting duties are shared. Dmax was an aggressive and damaged female elephant at point of recue but softened when PyiMai arrived. She is now more vigilant than PyiMai’s natural mother, who can be a little lax according to Jok. Neither though help PyiMai out of the river later on. Rather they watch and probably have a few wry smiles pretty much like we do.
It is a privilege to be able to get so close and observe the elephants here without a barrier however a barrier is available when we need it in the afternoon. Two groups in the same large space decide to egg each other on and head towards us at a fair speed. Grown elephants can travel 20-30 km per hour which, considering their, bulk is impressive. It also means you get out of their way quickly. It would not matter if you were the intended target or not – being ‘brushed aside’ by this mass travelling at that speed would not be comfortable. Ultimately the barrier of barbed wire fencing was far less of a threat as we scrambled over it. Ripped trousers and a bit of blood was all part of the experience. And then suddenly we found thar we were the enclosed species and the elephants were quite interested in looking at us close up – especially as the first aiders arrived.
Looking at the Elephant Park overall it is an impressive organisation. It employs nearly 400 local people as mahouts, guides, drivers, catering staff, cleaners. It has built up progressive and mutually beneficial relationships with local farmers to provide food for the elephants and other animals. It is a massive tourist draw and influencer in local behaviour. During the pandemic it was a driving force in co-ordinating resources to manage the fallout of the worldwide stop. Over 40 elephants were ‘rescued’ during the pandemic years of 2020-2022 when tourism momentarily died. Not just that but it educates and encourages traditional Thai villagers who would usually have been dependant on a single elephant and male mahout for their livelihood to look to other means such as art, jewellery making, weaving, cooking. All of this increases independence from the elephant and frees them a little bit more.
The visit to the elephant park over we travel back to Chiang Mai, leaving slightly earlier than planned as it is expected that the Loy Krathog/Ye Ping celebrations will mean the traffic is bad.