On the way to the Elephant Nature Park, we watched “Caught
In the Moment”, an American produced documentary about elephant conservation in
Thailand. There are 500 wild elephants remaining
in the jungles of Thailand; the rest are used to bring in revenue in Thailand’s
colourful Tourist industry. Unfortunately
their welfare is not protected by Thai law.
The park is sponsored by the Serengeti Foundation and leases
a few hundred acres of riverside plain from the Thai government. It is founded by a woman called Sangduan
Chailert, nicknamed “Lek” for short. She
has created a unique sanctuary where every year, thousands of visitors come to
volunteer to feed, muck out and bathe the 33 elephants.
When we arrived it was feeding time. After the safety advice, we had the tour of
the place. It was busy with volunteers
carrying baskets of fruit and pumpkins. The first thing we did was to walk along the
bamboo walkway where the mahouts were watching a group of three females. We stopped for a while and the smallest gave
us each a kiss. Then we got to feed the
elephants and placed the corn, bananas and watermelon in the curled part of the
elephant’s trunk, time after time. We
watched the mahouts walking with the elephants and tried to notice the
elephants we had heard about – Hope and Lilly.
The chance to interact with the elephants is a fantastic
experience. After a good lunch, we
changed for the river and followed the guide to collect a bucket and brush. We waded in a tipped the water onto the
elephant’s back and scrubbed the trunk. Her name was Mae Khan Keow, which means Golden
Crystal Mother.
Later on we listened to a volunteer talk about the future of
the park and how Lek’s Jumbo Express makes it across Thailand to collect new elephants
in their hour of need. The documentary
we watched afterwards was very upsetting.
It showed the cruel way villagers break the spirit of the elephant
through hooks, nails and boxing them in.
The rest of the day was spent back in the river. This time we bathed Mae Kham Phan and Mae Tee,
two other females.
This park is a great project for supporting elephant
conservation.
