The Elephant camp was FANTASTIC! It is hands down the best thing I have done since leaving home 2 months ago. It was only a short bus ride from Luang Prabang down twisted and bumpy dirt roads, then we arrived at a river which we crossed via a little flat bottom boat. Even from the far side of the river I could see these gorgeous little bungalows set in the hillside but didn’t want to get too excited in case the façade let me down. But no, they were every bit as wonderful as they looked from a distance. A balcony overlooking the river, complete with recliners, 2 queen sized bed (a bit of overkill for just me I suppose), an outdoor open-air bathroom complete with hot water AND toilet paper. And there had been no need for me to madly charge up every camera battery I could get my hands on as there was even electricity. Obviously I had been expecting much more rustic quarters!
I as soon as I arrived my mahout suit was waiting on my bed, I think it was one size fits all except me. From there we went over to the elephants and climbed aboard for a ride through the jungle for about an hour and a half. After that we had lunch, again surprisingly good! After lunch was the elephant ‘driving’ lesson where I learned the all important commands to steer the elephants, in Laos of course. Pai: Go, Hoi: Stop and Ya-ya: No, bad. Left and right I continually forgot and confused anyway so fortunately I could also just nudge the ear in the opposite direction to which I wanted to go.
There are 9 elephants at the camp and they have all been rescued from logging camps in north Laos where they were used for labour. They range in age from a 5 year old baby to a 45 year old behemoth. All remarkably placid and neither they, nor their handlers seemed to have any qualms about me walking freely in between and around them. Of all the elephants I have ridden and elephant camps I have visited this definitely seems the most humane and the elephants are treated far better than others I have seen.
Following the lesson we each took turns riding on the elephants heads and directing them where to go. It was hilarious, not only was my pronunciation terrible, I had to keep pulling out the cheat sheet to remember what to say in Laos. First we each had passengers still sitting on the seats then it was just me and the mahout ( who promptly decided to take a nap) and we went down to the river for a wade. The mahout and I removed the seat from the elephant, and loaded her up with the chain she would be tethered with later in the jungle, then took her back into the river bare back for a bath. It was the best thing; 8 elephants all getting their back scrubbed and obviously loving it. Splashing around, spraying themselves and everyone with water from their trunks. I was completely saturated by the end, assisted by the fact that my elephant like to regularly submerge his whole body with me on it.
We rode the elephants into the jungle where they are tethered in a different spot every night with a substantial length of chain attached to one leg to allow them to roam and eat freely but not wander off (as they are wont to do apparently).
From that point in the jungle we walked to the river and then proceeded to tube back to the camp at a very leisurely pace, soaking in the pristine surroundings and enjoying the cool water. I did feel slightly ridiculous tubing in my mahout suit but there was no alternative :P
After a nice hot shower and a superb dinner with the Swedes who were also doing the same trip, I headed off for an early night to be fresh for the collecting of the elephants from the jungle at 6.30am the next morning. Although a little bleary eyed at a 6.30am trek the morning was a lot of fun, more elephant riding and bathing before breakfast and again afterwards. I was supposed to go kayaking from the camp back down the river to Luang Prabang but decided to stay on the elephants instead. It turned out to be a good choice as its been storming all afternoon and it was a 4 hour kayak back to town.
All in all an experience I HIGHLY recommend and I hope that the enjoyment of the last couple of days will sustain me through my 14 hour local bus ride to Huay Xai tonight. No sleeping buses here…
