Just finished a week volunteering at an elephant nature park in mountainous (sp) Northern Thailand which has just been amazing. Elephant and buffaloe pooh shovelling , corn cutting, elephant feeding and bathing, cleaning mud pits, mud fights, makeshift tubeing, delicious food, glorious sunrises and sunsets, elephants trumpeting in the middle of the night, hiking, slobery elephant kisses and some wonderful new found friends just about sums up my week.
I have had one of the best weeks - so much so that I am going back to the park for another week (w/c 6th April) and thus I will be out of contact until around the 13th
The sanctuary was set up by an inspiring woman nicknamed "Lek" which means "small" in Thai as she is so wee. She has devoted her life to rescuing (SP) elephants and stopping the "pooja" of the elephants which is a traditional way Mahoots (the elephant trainers) "break the will" of the elephants by putting them through a tortorious taming process. She showed us a video of this process and there wasnt a dry eye in the room as we watched elephants being imprisoned in bamboo cells and whipped and stabbed in the ear and around the body by nail ended bamboo sticks and steel hooks. Only 40/60 percent of elephants make it through this cruelty alive. It was horrid to watch and unfortunately the tourist industry (including me previously) inadvertently supports this as the many thousands of people come to thailand to ride elephants or go elephant trekking which is the main source of income for many elephant owners now that logging has been banned.
Elephants were not intended to go street begging in Ko Sahn Road in Bnagkok or be used for picture painting or begging on their hind legs and I would plead that if in Thailand (or elsewhere) you do not support this.
Photos to follow as soon as poss
Be back in touch the w/c 13/14th april.
