Elephants just wanna have fun

Day 31: Elephant Nature Park, Chiang Mai Province, Northern Thailand

On our last full day, we are treated to a unique elephant walk with Darrick, the partner of Lek, the founder.  We met him our first day at ENP, and now we see that he is one of the elephant whisperers.  Whereas we are asked to not touch the elephants, there are a few, like Darrick, who have a close relationship with many of the elephants.  When he walked out to the first group, four of them came running to him to ‘hug’ him.

He tells us each one’s personal story.  There are lots of similarities – old female, injured from logging, breeding, or landmine; maybe blind, a broken leg or hip, or all of the above, and now they rescue them to let them live out their lives as elephants again without chains and room to move.  There are few exceptions, they have rescued pregnant females, and so have a few babies (like the two who chased us earlier in the week).  They also have eleven male ‘bull’ elephants that when they hit puberty are then isolated away since they can go into musth, which can last months, and then can be dangerous.  In the wild, they would also be alone, but with more land to be away from others.

There is some controversy in the elephant handling world on how close you should get to any elephant.  Some believe you shouldn’t be hugging, being underneath them, and interacting as Lek and Darrick do, since this isn’t ‘natural’ wild elephant behavior.  After seeing it first hand, one can only believe these elephants are choosing to have these interactions.  He doesn’t use treats or threats, just a lot of love and kindness.  They have all been around humans their whole lives and some seem to enjoy the contact.  There are other elephants, that Darrick would agree, that are not friendly to him or even other elephants, and so they are more confined than the many that we would walk by on these walks.

There is also controversy about how best to take care of bull elephants. Most agree that they need more space to roam, but should they be isolated behind cement barriers? Our earlier experience with BLES showed us that bulls can be integrated into a herd, if you have the space, the time, and fewer elephants. Or was this the case just because it was with the older ones?

That evening we are treated to a wonderful intimate conversation with the founder of ENP, Lek, who talks about her vision and hope for the future of elephants.  She wants to provide enough land for elephants and other animals to have them roam free, without need for nighttime enclosures. And having us be removed on a skywalk (like the smaller one on just a few acres, with a walkway 10 feet up in air, that we visited yesterday) to just observe them in their natural habitat.  They are about to realize a portion of this vision with acquisition of 80 acres of land about 6 miles away that they can do just that.  They hope to buy more land to increase it to 200 acres, which would allow them to move all the family groups to this oasis.  This is about four times the land they currently have all of their main elephants living on right now. 

Listening to Lek is much like meeting a celebrity, like Mother Theresa, but for elephants. She has been honored by prime ministers, presidents, and the US Secretary of State, she has several documentaries made about her lifelong work.  Our friends have known and worked with her for years.  Like all of us, she is not without her flaws and detractors, but one cannot miss the passion in her voice as she convinces you that you can make a difference in these and other animals lives.  She tells us that it is through these weeklong volunteer experiences that tourists campaigned for guide books like Lonely Planet to stop endorsing trekking and camps – and that is true.  As in many places, money speaks, so if tourists would rather spend their dollars on watching elephants in their natural habitat rather than performing for us – then the market will change. We saw this first hand with most ads stating “No Riding!”  These are all good steps.

She also tells us of the nightmares she has of the flood and how that has forced her to change what she is doing. Instead of rescuing more elephants, she is focused on moving her current elephants, dogs, water buffaloes, and others to higher, safer ground.  She believes that even though this flood was a once in a 100 year event, that it will happen again.  Seeing the daily reminders of the flood (from two months ago!) all around us, of mud stacked 10 feet high and trucks and excavators moving logs and metal debris all day this past week, one can only agree with this plan.

We ask a few more questions and leave inspired by this barely 5 foot woman who has overcome so many obstacles to make such a positive difference in this and other countries. 

I now realize why many places, like BLES, and others have shrines to the elephant god, Ganesha, the remover of obstacles.  Anyone who does this conservation work needs all the help they can get.